


It's Worth A Little Blood To Get Your Arms Free

by DefaltManifesto



Series: Yours, Mine [5]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, Fix-It, M/M, Relationship Negotiation, past emotional child abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-07-20 02:10:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7386541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex and Ink have managed to build a life for themselves, separate from the rest of the world. It's time to get back to reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of plans for this fic. I'm guessing it'll be 20-30k, hard to guess with what I want to do. More characters and tags will be added as the fic progresses, I don't want to spoil anything. Title from Machete by Amanda Palmer. 
> 
> I go away from comic canon a lot to make this happen. I've borrowed from canon to build Alex and Ink's backstories but a lot of it is what I've created cuz the movie 'verse doesn't really me much to go on.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

“I think I want to go back,” Alex said.

Ink pushed himself up from the bed, but Alex couldn’t read his expression in the dark of their studio apartment. “To Charles?”

"Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I keep thinking…I should’ve done more,” Alex said.

Ink rolled over so they were lying on their backs, side by side. “You couldn’t. When we got back, we were both…you wouldn’t have been much use to them then and now…”

“What?”

“Just…we’re good now. Why muddle it up by getting involved with people who keep almost causing global disasters?”

“I just feel like we’re stalling,” Alex said. “Like we’re meant for something bigger.”

“You want to be important. You want to make a difference,” Ink said. His voice had a flatness to it that made Alex’s gut twist.

“It’s not like that,” Alex said. “You make it sound like I want attention or recognition and that’s not what it is.” Alex sighed and ran a hand down his face. “When we were overseas, nothing we did mattered and it was just killing because some idiot world leaders didn’t give a fuck. But Cuba? Fighting with them meant something. I want that again. I know I can help like I did in Cuba if I’m given the chance.”

“I don’t get it. Really, I don’t,” Ink said. “The world tried to kill you in Cuba.”

“I know,” Alex said. “I still helped stop nuclear war though and that makes it worth it.”

Ink rolled onto his side facing away from Alex. “Not sure when you got so righteous and self-sacrificing.”

“Like you aren’t too,” Alex said, irritation bleeding into his voice.

“Only for the people that matter.”

 

-.-

 

They didn’t talk about it for several weeks. All it did was drive home how badly Alex wanted to go back because when he and Ink were fighting, there was no one else to talk to. They had acquaintances, classmates from their community college courses, but none of them were people Alex could be honest with about being gay let alone a mutant. It was lonely. Alex had spent enough time being like that in solitary confinement to know he didn’t want to go back to that feeling.

Ink was the one who brought it up first though when they were cleaning up the dishes from dinner.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” Ink said as he dried the dishes. “And I’m not like you. I’d rather be alone because there’s less of a chance I’ll end up in some sort of trouble. But maybe it’d be good for us to have more people we could relate to. Or something. I don’t know.”

“You reading my mind?” Alex asked, and he mostly meant it as a joke but he couldn’t quite get it across that way. “Because I’ve been thinking he same thing.”

“I wouldn’t,” Ink said. “You asked me to stay out of your head and I have. I promise.”

Alex looked over at him. “I trust you. Really?”

“So when do we leave?” Ink asked.

“Our lease is up next month,” Alex said. “So…then, I guess.”

“Good.”

Alex hoped it was.

 

-.-

 

The mansion wasn’t in the best of shape. The sign at the gate looked like it had been polished recently, but the grounds were untrimmed and unkempt. Ink’s expression was unreadable as they grabbed their bags from the trunk. Alex led the way to the front door and after a brief moment of hesitation, grabbed the knocker to knock a few times. They waited almost a minute before the door opened, revealing a familiar blue figure.

“Hank,” Alex said.

“You came back,” Hank said.

"Yeah,” Alex said. “If you’ll have me.”

“Charles will be happy to see you,” Hank said, opening the door wider so they could step inside. “Who’s this?”

“This is Ink. We fought together in Vietnam,” Alex said.

“And given that you’re not recoiling in fear of me, I’m guessing you’re a mutant,” Hank said.

“Yeah, sort of,” Ink said. “Weren’t you the guy fighting Magneto in Paris?”

A brief look of irritation crossed over Hank’s face before he turned and led them down a hall. “Yes, that was me.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to hit a sore spot,” Ink said.

"It’s fine.”

They reached the end of the hall and Hank knocked once on the door before letting himself in.

“Professor, we have visitors,” Hank said as they stepped inside.

Charles looked different than Alex remembered, tired and older, but somehow still like someone Alex could lean on for support without fear.

“Alex,” Charles said, eyebrows raising. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting to see you again. I knew you returned from overseas but when you didn’t come here I just assumed you wanted to be left alone.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, chest tight. “I had to figure some stuff out.”

"I’m glad you’re back, truly,” Charles said, wheeling his chair out from behind the desk. “And who is this?”

“This is Ink. He’s my…” Alex looked over at him, not sure how to say it.

“Boyfriend,” Ink said. “We’re dating.”

“What’s your power then?” Charles asked without missing a beat.

“My tattoos. They give me different powers,” Ink said. “Telepathy, healing, super strength…” He shrugged.

“And this one,” Charles asked, circling a finger over his own eye.

“Personal,” Ink said.

“Right.” Charles leaned back in his chair. “Not that I’m not delighted to have you back, but why are you here?”

“I uh…missed this. Missed having people like me being around,” Alex said. “I don’t know if I’m any use but…”

Charles huffed out a small laugh. “You don’t have to be of use to stay here. Neither of you do. But, if you’re looking for something to do, I’ve started to use Cerebro again. Hank can’t go out and frankly, my endurance isn’t back to what it should be so really, you’ve returned at the perfect time.”

His words filled Alex’s chest with a weird feeling, almost like elation. He looked at Ink, unable to stop his wide grin because he’d _known_ he’d be able to help somehow. “I’d be happy to Professor.”

“I wouldn’t mind traveling the country,” Ink said.

“Good, good. But for now, perhaps it’s best to get settled and Alex, if you don’t mind, I think we should sit together and catch up. I believe we both have a lot we need to discuss,” Charles said.

“I can show Ink to your old room if you want,” Hank said.

Alex looked over at Ink who gave a one-armed shrug in response. “Sure that’s fine.”

Charles wheeled back behind his desk after Ink and Hank were gone and after setting his bags down, Alex took a seat across the desk from him

“So,” Charles said. “Your brother has your powers. I’ve found him on Cerebro.”

The words jolted Alex out of his good mood. “Scott?”

“You…haven’t seen your family since you’ve returned, have you?” Charles asked, his own smile fading. “Is it because of Ink?”

“Honestly, my parents wouldn’t care too much about it. Being a mutant and in juvie is harder to deal with than just being gay, and to be honest they never seemed interested in trying to stay connected with me,” Alex said. “For me though, it’s more…after Cuba, after the war…” He looked away from Charles and down at his lap. “I needed to deal with some things.”

"You’ve gone through a lot. I don’t think they’d hold it against you if you returned,” Charles said.

“Do they know about Scott? Or is he hiding it?” Alex asked.

“They know. He had an incident at school, but they’re supportive,” Charles said. “Perhaps you could bring him here, at least, if you’re comfortable with reuniting with them.”

Alex took a deep breath. “I…I could do it. I think it’d be good if Scott was here…if you could help him like you helped me.”

“I’ll certainly do my best,” Charles said. “You can head there first then, whenever it is you and Ink are comfortable with leaving.”

“Right,” Alex said. He looked back up, chewing at his bottom lip for a moment before speaking. “Did you know about Banshee and Angel?”

Charles nodded. “Yes. Erik told me.”

“Which means Hank and I are the only ones left,” Alex said. “What’s your plan then, with these new mutants you find?”

“Train them to control their powers,” Charles said, meeting Alex’s gaze. “And if they desire it, how to fight.”

“That sounds a lot like Erik,” Alex said.

“Erik was right about a lot of things,” Charles said. “One of which is that humans _will_ come for us, now more than ever thanks to what he’s done. Raven stopped it from being the disaster we feared it would be, but that doesn’t mean I can let this place become a house full of sitting ducks.”

Alex nodded. “Good. Sounds like something I wouldn’t mind being a part of.”

“I wasn’t sure. You’ve seen a lot of war,” Charles said. “Some people get sick of it.”

“I think…” Alex ducked his head. “I miss it, as long as it’s for a real cause.” He shook his head and looked back up. “What did you do? After I left.”

For the first time since he’d returned, Charles looked uncomfortable.

“And don’t lie, like you used to. I’m older now. If this is going to work, I need you to trust me as much as I trust you,” Alex said.

“Right, that’s fair,” Charles said. “To be honest, after you left, it was the last straw. I lost my way for a while, but I think this time I’ll be able to do things right, given that my expectations are much more realistic.”

“And if it gets bad again?” Alex asked.

“That’s what I have Hank and now you for,” Charles said. “I’ve spent a lot of time leaning on only myself but honestly, the place my strength comes from is the people I let myself lean on in my weakest moments.”

“But you’ll still be pretty aloof won’t you?” Alex asked but it’s not accusatory. In fact, a smile tugged at his lips. “It’s kind of who are you.”

Charles shrugged and smiled. “You’re not wrong about that.”

“Just knowing you trust me more than you did…that’s enough,” Alex said. “I should probably go rescue Ink from Hank though. We’ll talk tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Charles said with a nod. “Welcome home, Alex.”

 

-.-

 

"This place is nice,” Ink said, stepping out of the bathroom with his toothbrush hanging partially out of his mouth. “Almost too big though.”

Alex watched from where he sat on the edge of the bed as Ink ducked back into the bathroom to spit in the sink. “We were kind of in our own little world for a while.”

“What did you and Charles talk about?” Ink asked. He crawled up onto the bed and stretched out over the covers.

“Why I didn’t come back mostly,” Alex said, stretching out next to him. “And about Scott. I guess he’s like me too, so Charles thought we should go find him first. My parents are supportive but if his powers are anything like mine, he’s not really going to be able to control them very well. It’s probably safer for him to be here.”

“Solitary confinement isn’t really a solution for him?” Ink asked.

“It was barely a solution for me,” Alex said. “But I guess Scott’s not as prone to losing control emotionally the way I am.”

“And your family? How do you feel about sending them again?” Ink asked.

Alex stared at the ceiling, frowning. “I…I don’t know. I’ve been away for so long, I don’t think they even knew I went with Charles. They never really visited me after I went to juvie for blowing up a classroom wall, and they didn’t believe me when I said it came from my body. I guess now, with it happening to Scott…”

“They’ll believe you,” Ink said.

Alex rolled onto his side to face Ink, who still stared up at the ceiling. “Something like that. I hope so anyways.”

“If you get your family back, what happens to me?” Ink asked, finally looking over at him. His gaze was unreadable. “Why do you need me, if everything else starts to go right?”

Alex sat up. “What? I don’t love you because you’re convenient.”

Ink looked away again. “After the war you had nowhere to go.”

“That’s what made me come with you, sure, but I stayed because I love you. Jesus, Ink, I literally got a tattoo for you. Did you honestly think I’d leave if I fixed things with Charles? With my family?” Alex’s chest felt hot with anger so he threw himself off the bed to get some distance. He stopped by the window, leaning against it and staring out at the back courtyard as the anger simmered and finally began to fade. “Why would you think that after everything we’ve been through?”

“I…” The fabric rustled as Ink moved on top of the bed. “Because no one’s ever stuck around without needing something from me.”

“Ink, I wouldn’t,” Alex said, turning to face him. “You’ve helped me so much, but I’m here because I love you, not so I can use you.” Alex stepped back towards the bed and grabbed Ink’s hands. “I just…don’t know how to convince you of that.”

Ink pulled away. “I love you too. But it’s just something I’ve grown up with. You’re the first to stay and I guess that makes me nervous.”

“I’m not leaving you, I swear,” Alex said.

“Let’s just sleep,” Ink said. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Alex climbed into bed. He didn’t know what else he could say.

 

-.-

 

Alex stared at the front door of his old home, hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel of the car Charles had let him and Ink use. Ink reached over to carefully extricate Alex’s fingers from the wheel. He brought the hand to his lips and kissed the top of his knuckles.

“We should probably go knock on the door,” Ink murmured against his skin.

“That’s the hardest part,” Alex said with a slight grimace.

“Which means everything that comes after will be simple,” Ink said.

“How optimistic of you,” Alex said a little dryly as he looked over at him.

Ink released his hand and grinned. “Thanks.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Alex said.

He almost stopped halfway to the door but he clenched his hands tight and kept walking until he could knock on the door. A few moments later, one of the curtains was pushed aside by one of the side windows but they disappeared too quickly for Alex to tell who it was. He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Half a second later, the front door opened and his mother practically flung herself into his arms.

“Alex, oh my God, my baby,” she whispered, her hand holding tightly to the back of his head for a moment longer before she pulled away. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I didn’t know if you were ever going to come back. I-I thought after everything…after we stopped visiting you…”

“I almost didn’t,” Alex said. There was a joy that came with seeing his mom for the first time in years, but beneath it was still the bitterness of being abandoned, of not being listened to when he swore he hadn’t done anything and that he had powers. “Is Scott here?”

Her face darkened as she released him. “You only came for him, didn’t you?”

“Mom, there’s a lot I need to talk to you about,” Alex said, keeping his voice steady. “Can we just come in?”

She looked over at Ink for the first time. “And who is he?”

“This is Ink. He’s a friend,” Alex said. “I’m not going to like, kidnap Scott. I just need to talk to you about him.”

“Right. Of course.” She relaxed marginally as she let them in and directed them to the living room while she went to fetch his dad and Scott.

“Bit of emotional whiplash, huh?” Ink asked as they sat down on the couch.

“Our parting was…conflicted,” Alex said. “It’s got to be a lot for her to process.”

“I’d hold off on the boyfriends thing for a while.” Ink’s tone was light but when Alex looked at him, there wasn’t a shred of emotion on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Alex said.

Ink swallowed, eyes narrowing. “It’s your dad. He’s upset.”

“About…”

“You,” Ink said. “Alex, maybe this isn’t the best idea.”

Before Alex could say anything else, his father’s footsteps began to thud down the stairs. Ink sprung to his feet and Alex was quick to do the same and put himself between Ink and his father when his father rounded the corner and stepped into the room.

"Dad,” Alex said.

His dad looked the same as when Alex had been locked up, right down to the disappointed look in his eyes. There was a hostility there now though, one that didn’t used to be.

“Andrew, he wants to talk,” his mom said. “There’s no reason to act like this.”

“I won’t let you lead Scott down the same path as you,” his dad said.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “You should know by now I’m not actually a criminal. I’m just here to help. I’ve been through the same thing as him so I know how scary it is for him. So. Can we have an actual conversation now?”

A tense moment passed and then his dad moved across the room to sit on the couch opposite of them. Ink and Alex sat back down. His mom hesitated another moment before sitting as well.

“Right after I turned 18, the CIA sought me out to be a part of their mutant division,” Alex said. “Myself and my teacher, Charles Xavier, helped prevent Russia from delivering their missiles to Cuba.”

“You expect us to believe that?” his dad scoffed.

“No,” Alex said. “Which is why I brought these.”

Ink handed him his bag and he pulled out the copy of the CIA file on himself and his old team Charles had given him. He passed it to his parents to let them sift through.

“After, Charles opened a school for mutants. The CIA tried to have us killed, so it made more sense to try and create a home for people like us to be safe,” Alex continued. “Unfortunately, I was drafted.”

His mom looked up, her eyes filling up with tears. “I…we didn’t know…”

"Yeah. I know,” Alex said, doing his best to keep the bitterness out. “I didn’t think I’d be welcome here.”

“You weren’t wrong,” his dad said.

“But,” Alex continued. “I’m back now, and Charles suggested I reach out and see if Scott was like me and if so, Charles has offered to train him.”

His dad folded the file shut. “We’re handling it.”

“Are you?” Ink asked. “Because Scott feels very scared to me.”

His dad’s face screwed up into a twisted and angry expression. “And what’s your freakish power then?”

“I’m a telepath,” Ink said. “And yeah, you and your wife are quite kind to Scott in comparison to how you treated Alex, but you’re letting your fear and hatred for Alex blind you to the fact that he’s the best thing for Scott right now.”

“Alex,” his mom said, reaching out and setting a hand on his dad’s knee to stop him from talking. “This is a lot for us to take in at once. Perhaps it’d be best if you come back tomorrow.”

Alex wished the words didn’t hurt as much as they did even though he’d expected them.

"Fine. Can I see Scott before I leave?” Alex asked.

“He’s upstairs, blindfold over his eyes. Don’t remove it,” Ink said.

Alex looked over at him and then his parents who were entirely still. “You froze them, didn’t you?”

Ink gave a slow nod. “Your dad is really angry. It’s better if you don’t ask him for anything.”

"Right…how long can you hold them?” Alex asked as he got to his feet.

"As long as you need,” Ink said. “Trust me.”

Alex headed out of the room and leapt up the stairs two at a time. It was disconcerting to see after so many years but he didn’t let himself think too hard about it. Ink was strong, but there was no sense in delaying. He knocked on Scott’s door and after a muffled assent, opened it and stepped inside.

Scott laid on his bed in almost total darkness, the only light coming from tiny slivers around the edges of his curtains. The blindfold covered his eyes like Ink had said. Alex stepped over and sat on the edge of the bed. Scott looked a lot older, puberty stripping the baby fat Alex remembered from his face and his shoulders had filled out with muscle.

“This doesn’t look fun,” Alex said.

Scott bolted up right. “Alex?”

“Yeah, hey. Mom and dad aren’t exactly pleased that I’m here,” Alex said. “I uh, have a telepath friend downstairs distracting them so we can talk.”

“Oh, great. So you’re even more delinquent than when you left,” Scott said.

The words stung. “I’m not…it was my powers Scott, you know, like the ones you have?”

Scott’s lips pressed into a hard, thin line. “Have you come to take me away then?”

“Not if you don’t want to,” Alex said. “I honestly thought you’d be more excited to see me.”

“Why? You’ll just leave again.”

"Scott…” Alex shook his head even though Scott couldn’t see it. “I want to help you. I’m leaving because mom and dad want me to, but I’m going to leave me house number on your desk, okay? Get a friend to call it if they won’t let me come back and you want to learn how to control your powers.”

“You couldn’t,” Scott said as Alex began searching the room for paper and a pen. “It’s not about control. Any time I open my eyes, I vaporize things. The blindfold doesn’t stop anything, it just helps remind me to never open my eyes.”

Alex stopped at Scott’s desk, the words sounding too familiar for comfort. “I remember the feeling, but it doesn’t have to be that way forever, I can promise you that.”

“Just give me your stupid number and leave.”

 

-.-

 

“So that could’ve gone better,” Ink said as they drove to their hotel.         

“Yeah…” Alex’s hands tightened on the wheel. “I’ve been gone awhile but I didn’t realize that Scott would learn to…” He shook his head as if that would make the painful thoughts go away.

“He feels like you abandoned him,” Ink said. “Before you ask, I wasn’t reading his mind, he just thinks very loud.”

“Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice.”

“I’m sorry.”

When they get to the hotel, Alex found himself torn between face-planting in the bed or getting really drunk. Ink sat down on one of the beds, bag at his feet.

“Are there any other mutants Charles asked you to look for?” Ink asked.

Alex sat down on the other bed and stretched out on his back. “No. And I kind of want to try again tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re my family.” Alex turned his head to look at Ink, a frown tugging at his lips. “They fucked me over but I have to try.”

“No, you really don’t,” Ink said as he turned on his side to look at Alex. “You got along fine without them so you don’t need them now.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Are you just saying that because you’re scared I’ll leave if things go smoothly with them?”

He almost regretted saying it when Ink jerked upright.

“No. That’s not…” Ink’s expression twisted into a grimace and he looked away. “Maybe. I don’t know. I guess maybe I’m starting to think maybe there’s something wrong with me.”

Alex sat up as well. “What do you mean?”

"It’s just...the other night when we talked got me thinking that maybe I’m wrong. That I’m too possessive,” Ink said. “And that’s not a good thing because I know how I can be. I know I have a habit of…wrecking a good thing because I’m so scared I’ll lose it if I don’t cling to it and do everything I can even when it…”

“That’s why you don’t talk about your life much before the war,” Alex said. He turned more towards Ink to look at him. “Which, I get. But I don’t think I’m going to be able to understand unless we actually talk about this and why you’re so scared of me leaving.”

“It’s not some traumatic thing,” Ink said, getting to his feet and joining Alex on his bed. “It’s just…”

“I’m not saying it’s traumatic. It doesn’t have to be traumatic to affect you,” Alex said. “It’s stupid for you to try and tackle this on your own when you’ve been there for me countless times.”

“Can I show you instead?” Ink asked after a beat of silence.

“Sure.”

Ink angled himself to face. Alex head on, fingers curling around the back of Alex’s neck and pressing their foreheads together. Alex caught a quick glance of the lightning bolt tattoos glowing on Ink’s temples before closing his eyes. The memories trickled in, slow at first. A childhood, poor but safe. There was love there, deep and strong between Ink and his mother, and a sadness as he grew older and realized how tired she looked. Sneaking out with one of his friend’s older brothers and watching his first drug deal. Fear, sick and painful, when he asked to join in. Loathing towards himself when he lied and told his mother he had a job. The pain of his first tattoo and the powers that came with it.

The memories poured in faster. The lies he told his mom outnumbering the truths. His drug contact realizing what he could do, blackmailing him into becoming the debt collector and in some cases the one to deliver punishment. The guilt and bile that spilled out onto the pavement after his first kill, followed by a conflicting joy and elation at receiving his biggest payment yet and turning it over to his mother.

They could finally make a down payment on a house.

The next kill. And the next. His tattoo artist showing him a new design, a phoenix that he promised would give him unimaginable power. Power to escape.

The night he stood up to his contact. A gunshot, another and another. The phoenix tattoo over his eyes glowed and burned, the power rushing through him and ripping out all the hurt and pain and washing him free of it. The only thing left behind was a mangled corpse.

Horror. Disgustfearhatredpowermorenomore-

No.

He was too dangerous. He had no way to provide for his mother. No use other than killing and he couldn’t, not like this, not for profit, not for survival. His mother, she’d be so disappointed. She’d hate him, fear him.

So Ink ran.

And he kept running.

Alex opened his eyes slowly and pulled away. Ink’s eyes were bright with tears that seemed to refuse to be shed. Alex rubbed his thumbs under Ink’s eyes before pressing a kiss to his lips. Ink inhaled a sharp breath and leaned into Alex’s body as he deepened the kiss with an edge of desperation Alex hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Hey,” Alex said, easing him back. “Easy.”

“Sorry, just…” Ink wouldn’t look at him. “It’s the most I’ve shared in a long time and I guess I’m worried that…”

“I’m not leaving you if that’s it,” Alex said, tilting Ink’s head up by his chin. “Ink, you were young. You had powers thrust on you by another person and you did the best you could for yourself and your mom. I’m not judging you for that. I don’t think you’re a monster.”

Ink’s fingers twisted together on his lap. “There’s something inside of me though, something that was put in me and I control it now but what I did? What I could do again?”

“It was self-defense Ink,” Alex said. “And you know what I’ve done with my powers and what we both did abroad.”

"Maybe, but…” Ink shook his head. “I try so hard to be what people need and I worry that eventually what happened then we’ll happen again. It almost did when those guys back at my old apartment, when they…”

“You never did say what you did to them,” Alex said.

“I made them forget who we were and move to the other side of the city,” Ink said.

“That’s a lot to do,” Alex said. “I mean, Charles has told me how hard it is to control small things, and how it’s taken him time and training to be able to do what he does now. So how…?”

“This,” Ink said, pointing to the phoenix tattoo. “It was the last one that was done. I’m not…totally sure what it’s supposed to but it seems to enhance my telepathy.”

 Alex reached up, fingers tracing over the tattoo. “And the others, you know all of those right?”

“Yeah,” Ink said.

“Right. Lay down, yeah?” Alex asked.

Ink frowned. “What?”

“I want to go over each tattoo,” Alex said. “Show you I’m still here, show you I’ll never see you as a monster.”

“Alex…” Ink pushed him back onto the mattress, pressing their lips together.

It wasn’t exactly what Alex had in mind. What he wanted was to erase the feeling Ink buried so deeply within himself, the feeling of being a monster that Alex had spent most of his life living with. Any way he could show Ink that he wasn’t like that, that neither of them were like that, worked for him. He’d lost himself entirely in the forceful kiss by the time Ink suddenly pulled back.

“What?” Alex asked.

“Sorry. It seemed like you had a plan and I got distracted,” Ink said.

“Little bit,” Alex said with a small smile. He slid his hands up under Ink’s tank top. “C’mon.”

They managed to get their clothes off between deep and probing kisses. Alex could feel Ink’s mind bumping up against his, something that didn’t happen often but it was a relief in some ways to feel it after all the sadness and pain Ink had shared. There was a joy there now because of Alex’s words, relief really. Alex knew the feeling well, back when he’d met Darwin and Sean and realized other mutants understood how he felt.

Alex rolled them over, his lips sliding down Ink’s chest to the tattoo they got together, the one that was mirrored on Alex’s chest. He knew of course, that this one didn’t hold any power. This one was theirs. He pulled back, straddling Ink’s thighs and picking up his left hand. Lines circled his forearm all the way to his wrist and hand and then around each finger.

“You never told me what these were for,” Alex said. He kissed the tips of Ink’s fingers.

“I don’t use it that often,” Ink admitted. “It’s for super strength. Only this arm though.”

Alex tugged Ink’s hand up and kissed the biohazard symbol on his palm. He scraped his teeth over the mark, grinning when Ink shuddered, eye lids drooping to half-mast. He switched hands, tracing the Caduceus symbol with his lips.

"You saved me with this,” Alex said. “You’ve hurt and you’ve killed but you can save and heal too.”

Ink’s fingers curled down to slide over Alex’s lips. “I know. I think I forget sometimes.”

“You never let me in with that stuff,” Alex said. “You never tell me when it gets bad even though I’m always telling you when it gets bad. I won’t let you forget that you’re good though, now that I know.”

“I’ll try and be better,” Ink said, eyes glancing to the side.

Alex leaned down to kiss him. “That’s not what I’m saying. You don’t have to tell me everything all the time or something. Just…when you need.”

Ink pulled his close again, chasing the words away with more kisses. Alex rolled his hips down and sucked at Ink’s lower lip, prompting Ink to twist his fingers though Alex’s hair and hold him closer. It was almost like relief, the spark and pleasure that coursed between them. He’d felt as though, with going back to Charles, there was a growing distance between them, emotional and physical.

Now though, with Ink’s soft gasps puffing against his lips when Alex got a rough, warm hand on his cock, Ink’s elation bleeding into his mind, that insecurity fled. Ink’s hands fell to grasp at Alex’s shoulders, back arching. Alex buried his face in Ink’s neck, teeth biting into the soft, pale skin near his collarbone.

“Ale…x…” Ink’s voice came out as a stuttered moan, legs kicking out behind him as he came between them.

Alex pulled back and began to kiss and suck marks into Ink’s skin as he worked his way down. He licked up the come and wrapped his lips around the tip of Ink’s cock. Ink jerked, a soft noise leaving him as his hands pushed back into Alex’s hair. Alex liked him like this. He liked when Ink was over-sensitized and unsure if he wanted to push away or pull Alex closer. He liked when Ink couldn’t hold his emotions in check.

Once Ink’s gasps started to turn into overwhelmed sobs, Alex eased off. Ink wasn’t crying, just breathing hard. After a moment, Ink reached down and let his fingers trail over Alex’s cock. Alex bit his lip before leaning down to kiss Ink again, hips fucking into Ink’s hand as he started to actually stroke him.

“You drive me fucking crazy you know that?” Ink murmured, lips trailing over Alex’s jaw. “Take care of me. Make me human.”

Alex dropped his head into Ink’s neck. “You do the same for me.” He kissed the mark he left earlier, eyes squeezing shut as he came. “Fuck…”

Ink tugged his face up to press their lips together. Alex let out a soft groan and flipped them so Ink was on top, stretched out across him as they continued to kiss, hands roaming over one another’s skin.

“Get it?” Alex mumbled into the kisses. “I love you. I’m not leaving.”

Ink smiled, fingers sliding through Alex’s hair. “Got it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott sides with Alex and Peter makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, not beta'd so feel free to point out mistakes. Feedback of all kinds is loved. Thanks.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

_Alex. Alex. ALEX!_

Alex jerked awake, nearly elbowing Ink in the head as Charles’ voice reached a scream.

“What? What’s…” Alex shook his head.

_You need to go to your home. Your brother and father are fighting and I fear it will keep escalating._

“Right. Got it,” Alex said, hopping off the bed. “Ink, get up.”

Ink groaned into the pillow. Alex opened his bag and started rooting around for clean clothes and throwing the old ones in the bottom. He raised an eyebrow as he started tugging on his pants.

"Ink, seriously. Charles was just screaming in my head, how did you not hear that?”

“No, I did. Believe me,” Ink said, voice hoarse as he rolled out of bed and stumbled over to his own bag.

Alex could feel the nervous energy building within him. Energy crackled at his fingertips and he straightened up from his packing to take a few deep breaths, filling his lungs with air and letting it out slowly. He repeated the action a few times, sinking into his body and thoughts. When Ink touched his arm, he opened his eyes. Ink’s face was pinched with concern.

“Are you okay?” Ink asked.

"Just overwhelmed. I’m good though, Scott needs us,” Alex said.

“Right, okay.”

Ink grabbed their bags and led the way back out to the car. Alex felt more centered but he could still feel the energy simmering beneath his skin. He didn’t want Scott to go through what he did and the idea that the tension was escalating because he knew what could happen.

“Hey,” Ink said, prying one of Alex’s hands off the wheel and squeezing it tight. “It’s going to be okay. And you’re glowing a bit so maybe try those deep breaths again.”

 Alex let out a nervous laugh and focused more intently on the road.

"What’s happening in there?” Alex asked as they pulled into the driveway.

The lightning bolt tattoos at Ink’s temples glowed with faint light as he closed his eyes. “Your dad is yelling. Scott wants to leave but your dad is saying…if he leaves, he can’t come back.”

"Shit,” Alex said, throwing his door open and jogging for the front door.   

“Your mom’s in the living room. She’ll let you in,” Ink called as he followed after him.

Alex knocked on the door and his mom answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Mom,” Alex said, grabbing her by her shoulders. “You need to let me take Scott.”

“I know, I know,” she said, reaching up and rubbing her thumb over Alex’s hand. “Your father, Alex, he feels like he’s lost control, you have to understand. Neither of you turned out the way we expected…we wanted.”

She dissolved into tears again, crumpling against Alex. He wanted to recoil away from her, both because he wanted to get to Scott and also because…it wasn’t like he needed the reminder that he wasn’t the child his parents wanted. Ink nudged him aside, taking Alex’s mom into his arms and guiding her to the living room. Alex squeezed Ink’s elbow and then took the stairs up two at a time to the second floor. He could hear Scott and his dad arguing.        

Not bothering to knock on the door, Alex stepped into the room, silencing the conversation. Scott sat at the edge of his bed and a few feet away stood their dad. His face was bright red when he looked at Alex.

"Scott, it’s me,” Alex said, stepping into the room, closer to his dad than Scott.

Energy crackled in the room, but Alex knew it wasn’t coming from him, so it had to be Scott.

“You don’t need to be here, Alex, I don’t care what your mother said,” his dad said.

"Clearly I do because you’re about to have a fucking disaster on your hands,” Alex said. “Do you really want a repeat of what happened to me with Scott?”

“I don’t,” Scott said. “Like, I get it, dad, Alex is a bad influence or whatever, but what do you and mom want me to do? Hide in my room the rest of my life?”

Alex could feel the energy begin to rise again and he took another step forward to get fully between Scott and his dad.

"At least then you wouldn’t be a danger to the rest of us!” his dad shouted.

The energy spiked and Alex leapt in front of his dad as the energy blasts rocketed out of Scott’s eyes. It hit him like a truck, his knees buckling at the strength of it. He could hear his dad and Scott screaming, but it was a distant sound. All he could focus on was the intense heat and pain building in his chest where Scott’s energy did its best to burrow its way through him. Alex ground his teeth together, breath heaving as he absorbed more and more.

He didn’t notice at first when Ink raced into the room. It wasn’t until the lightning bolts on his temples began to pulse the brightest Alex had ever seen that he noticed him. He couldn’t spare another thought towards him though. The blasts from Scott’s eyes intensified, knocking him back against his dad. Scott’s voice broke on a scream and he fell back on the bed, unconscious. Alex stumbled forward, barely managing to keep his eyes open as he collapsed and curled up on the ground.

His ears rang, the voice of his mother muffled as she raced to Scott’s side. Ink knelt beside him, pressing the hand with the healing tattoo to his head and chasing away the pain and ringing noise. Dizziness almost overtook him as Ink hauled him to his feet. He sniffed and touched the space between his lip and nose, grimacing at the blood on his fingers. The front of his shirt had burned away too, but his skin only looked as though it had gotten a little sunburnt.

“You saved me,” his dad said.           

Alex turned to look at him. “Yeah, of course.”

“But we…I…” His father trailed off, pale and shaken.          

“He won’t wake up!” his mother shouted. “Scott? Baby, please wake up…”

“It’s okay,” Ink cut in before anyone else could say anything. “I put him in a deep sleep. He’ll wake up in a few hours.”

“And I think it’s become pretty damn clear that we should take him with us when he does,” Alex said. “Trust me. I know you think I’m a criminal, and hey, maybe that made it easier to hate me and ignore me when really all you were afraid of was what I could do. But even with that, you have to admit I’m the best thing for Scott right now.”

His dad straightened, glancing at Scott and then back at Alex. “When I looked through your file, it said you killed someone…Darwin or something.”

Alex clenched his jaw. “It was in a battle. Friendly fire.”

“And Scott, if he goes with you…will he be fighting too?” his dad asked, sounding steadier with each word.

“Not at this age,” Alex said. “Charles wouldn’t let him.”

“Andrew, we have to let Scott go with him,” his mom said, getting to her feet. “We can’t…we could get hurt trying to help him ourselves.”

“I think sometimes when you’re the parent, you think you’re the only one who can protect your kid, and when you realize you can’t, it makes you hold on so tight you hurt them,” Ink said. “In this case, Scott almost hurt you.”

“Smart friend of yours,” his mother said, a forlorn smile tugging at her lips.        

“We can wait until he wakes up to take him,” Alex said.

“I think it would be better if you just take him now,” his dad said.

“Is that the fear talking?” Alex asked.

His dad shook his head. “Like you said. You’re the best equipped to deal with this.”

Alex watched him walk out of the room on unsteady legs. He wished he was surprised by the reaction, but really, he knew what type of people his parents were at their cores. He could only hope Scott would be able to handle the rejection.

 

-.-

 

“They do love you,” Ink said. “And Scott. In their own way.”

Alex pried Scott’s shoes off and let them drop on the hotel floor. Scott didn’t even stir. “I know they do. Their fear is always going to outweigh that.”

They’d had to get a new bandage for Scott, making it out of one of Ink’s ripped up shirts. It wouldn’t stop the blasts, but hopefully it would be enough of a reminder for Scott to keep his eyes closed. For a moment as he stared down at his brother’s prone form, a wave of hopelessness struggled to overcome him. A part of him, perhaps a large part, wanted to give in. Too much had shifted too quickly.

The brush of Ink’s fingers along his arm pulled him back out of it. The concern on his face was apparent. Alex shrugged his touch away and dug his wallet out of his back pocket instead. Ink frowned when he handed it over.

“Scott will be hungry when he wakes up,” Alex said.

Ink took the wallet from him. “Is this a nice way of saying you don’t want to talk?”         

“Just…not now,” Alex said, the words coming out in a heavy sigh.

“Got it.” Ink pocketed the wallet and cupped Alex’s face in his hands as he drew him in for a kiss. Alex leaned into the kiss, hands falling to Ink’s waist, curling against the light curve of his hip. When Ink pulled away, Alex wanted to follow. He didn’t want to worry about Scott or any of his other responsibilities for that matter, wanting instead to lose himself in Ink.

He watched Ink walk out the door as he sat on the edge of the bed. He didn’t like thinking about how long he and Ink had existed in their own personal bubble. They’d kept everyone out, held everyone at an arms-length. Part of it was for their own safety of course, because it wasn’t like being gay and mutant made them look good in anyone’s eyes. But if he thought about it a little harder, that year together was nothing more than both of them running away from their problems. Even after they had put themselves back together, they had continued to hide.

Ink ran from his family.

And Alex…well he supposed he did too. But it was more than that, an insidious and deep rooted fear that no matter where he went, he would always be rejected. Then again, when Ink had poured his life into Alex’s mind, that fear of only ever being seen as a monster had been present. Maybe it was just something all mutants shared.

“So you’re a mutant and you kiss guys.”

Alex turned to look at Scott. “So you’re a telepath now too?”

Scott shrugged, fingers lacing together on his stomach. “Heard you guys kissing.”

“Right…”

“Whatever.” Scott stayed silent for a moment before he took a deep breath and continued. “Did I hurt anyone?”

“No. I absorbed everything you let out,” Alex said. “Mom and dad said you should go with me.”

“They didn’t even want to say goodbye.” Scott turned on his side away from Alex. “They’re just going to abandon me the way they did with you, aren’t they?”

"Do you want the truth?”

"I’m not a fucking kid, okay? You don’t have to protect me.”

“Then yeah, I think they are,” Alex said. He didn’t add that Scott very much _was_ a kid still. “But I also think they’ll come around once they learn not to be afraid of us.”

Scott let out a bitter laugh. “Still scared of you though, aren’t they?”

“Didn’t say it’d be soon.”

“Whatever.”

Alex wished he had the words to make it better but he knew from his own experience that there was nothing to be said that made the ache of abandonment easier to bare. The days, _years_ , he’d spent in solitary confinement terrified of what he’d do had made that much clear. Back then, all he had was time to think and mull over the how and why his parents had cast him aside so easily. He’d hoped to spare Scott the same pain. Looking at Scott now though, the slight shake of his shoulders as he tried to hold his tears, he couldn’t help but think that pain was an inevitable part of being a mutant.

He wanted to believe they were more than just monsters meant to be cast aside and scorned. He just wasn’t sure the world would ever evolve fast enough to realize they could offer so much more, could be people to look up to instead of feared.

Even Charles believed they had to prepare for the world to turn against them. If he, of all people, couldn’t have unwavering faith in humanity, then Alex didn’t know if he could hope for anything but the worst.

           

-.-

 

“So who even is this Charles guy?” Scott asked around a mouthful of food.

Even with the windows rolled down, Alex could smell Scott’s burger and fries, stomach growling at the scent of it. He’d eaten as well while driving, but he was still ravenous. The only reason he could come up with was with how much energy he’d absorbed and burned off from Scott, his body was desperate for sustenance.

"My teacher, basically.”

“Why was he interested in you though?”

Alex and Ink both looked at each other and then laughed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alex asked. “Am I not cool enough or something?”

Scott flushed, face beat red in the rearview mirror. “I meant like, why was he going around picking up delinquent mutants?”

“Oh, _sure_ ,” Alex said.

The tension from the night before was still there, but the ease with which teasing Scott came back to him made him feel more settled.

"Seriously! Is he just some weirdo or what?” Scott asked.

“He’s a professor,” Alex said. “The CIA recruited him when they realized mutants were going to be a threat. The missile crisis in Cuba was caused by this mutant, Sebastian Shaw. We stopped him.”

“You and this professor?”

"No, we had a team,” Alex said, hands tightening on the wheel.

“Am I going to meet them too?” Scott asked.

“One of them, yeah. Hank. I called him Beast,” Alex said. “The name stuck.”

"He’s a big blue fur monster, so count yourself lucky kid. Could be a lot worse for you,” Ink said.

“I think I’ll take the blue fur honestly, who needs to go outside?” Scott said. “What about the others on your team? What happened to them.”

The words caught in Alex’s throat halfway out. The silence was worse though. Alex didn’t want to scare their situation, but Scott could fill the silence with something much worse.

“Did you see the President’s address?” Ink asked. “About combating mutants?”

Scott frowned. “Yeah, everyone did.”

“The guy who dropped the football stadium was on the first team,” Ink said. “And so was the woman who stopped him.”

 “Not the most united force, huh?” Scott asked, the forced calmness in his voice undermined by the slight nervous tremor in it.

“Not anymore,” Alex said. _Thanks_ , he sent in Ink’s direction.

Ink reached out and squeezed his shoulder. _No problem._

"So what, the five of you managed to stop Cuba from ending in nuclear war?” Scott asked. “I guess you’re not as lame as I thought.”

“Thanks, that means so much to me,” Alex said dryly.

“Was that Erik guy always a giant dick or was the whole trying to murder the president thing a new low?” Scott asked.

Alex sighed. “Do we really have to talk about this?”

“You did kind of uproot my whole life so you could at least give me a heads up on what you’re dragging me into.”

“He’s not entirely wrong,” Ink said. “Obviously Erik’s not that fun to talk about but it’s only a matter of time before he does something horrible again.”

“And we’ll probably have to be the ones to stop him,” Alex said. “Not you though, Scott. I promised mom and dad I wouldn’t let you fight or get hurt by doing any of the stuff I’ve done, even if you want to.”

“That was stupid of you,” Scott said. “What’s the point of learning how to use my powers if I can’t help stop a nut-job from trying to kill everyone?”

“Wow, you really are related,” Ink said.

“Huh?” Scott asked.

“Alex says the same shit all time,” Ink said, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.

Scott made a weird noise and Alex glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

“What?” Alex asked.

“Just...” Scott looked down at his lap, hiding his expression from view. “I said some dumb stuff a few days ago and I’m sorry. Or whatever.”

“It’s fine,” Alex said, some of the tension leaving him at the words. “I get where it’s coming from.”

Scott didn’t say anything in response. Alex was more than happy to let the conversation rest.

 

-.-

 

When they arrived back at the mansion, Hank was waiting for them outside the front door.

“Hey Scott,” Hank said, helping Scott out of the car while Ink and Alex grabbed all the bags. “Charles was telling me about your powers, so I’ve spent the last few days working on something that I think will help you see again.”

"Must’ve been a riveting few days for you, huh Hank?” Alex asked with a wide grin as they headed inside.

Hank rolled his eyes. “Your brother is just jealous he isn’t capable of developing glasses that can absorb the energy you two put off.”

“So you’re a furry genius,” Scott said. Hank recoiled but Scott just hauled him back. “It wasn’t an insult, and if you’re helping me walk, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t move so fast and make me fall on my face.”

"Right, of course,” Hank said.

The whole interaction made Alex’s gut twist. It wasn’t like Alex had really helped Hank with his general confidence when it came to his image, and seeing his brother accept it so readily when he was already shake up made it worse. Not that it was surprising. When they were younger, Scott had always been the nicer one.

Ink’s hand curled around his hip, squeezing briefly before walking ahead to catch up with Hank and Scott. They headed for the bunker, taking a newly, at least to Alex, installed elevator.

“We’re planning on doing some work to this place,” Hank said. “We were more concerned about upgrading Cerebro at the time, but Alex has set this place on fire a few times, so don’t worry about damaging it.”

“Comforting,” Scott said as Hank walked him over to the closest wall.

The elevator dinged open and Charles rolled himself over to join them.

“Good to see you all made it back in one piece,” Charles said, no trace of a smile on his face when he looked at Alex. “It’s nice to meet you, Scott.”

“Same, professor,” Scott said, lips quirking up.

“Now, did Hank go over why he made glasses for you, Scott?” Charles asked as Hank began to undo the bandage covering Scott’s eyes.

“Uh, no,” Scott said.

Alex looked over at Ink in confusion. Ink frowned, setting his bag down before reaching out and pressing his fingers to Alex’s wrist.

 _Charles hid something from you. Can’t tell what,_ Ink said.

“Charles looked into your mind when he was trying to locate you,” Hank said. “And basically your brain never developed the nerves needed to control your powers. With Alex, it was like building a muscle which he controls now. There’s nothing to train in your brain. To stop your powers, you’ll need to wear these.”

“What?” Scott’s voice climbed up in volume as he leapt away from Hank. “Alex said-“

 “I didn’t know,” Alex said, gaze sliding over to Charles.

Charles didn’t look at him. “I wanted to make sure we had a solution before we said anything. It wouldn’t do any good to give you a seemingly insurmountable problem without any sort of hope.”

“Doesn’t mean you should lie to Scott or Alex,” Ink said. “But I guess you’re the type of person who think he knows best. I imagine it’s driven quite a few people away.”

“Ink, not now,” Alex said. He dropped his bag and jogged over to Scott.

Scott’s hands were over his eyes as he crouched down, breath coming in quick and fast gasps. Alex knelt next to him, uncertain. He had to do something though, because letting it escalate wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“Scott, it’s okay. This isn’t what I promised you and I’m _sorry_ ,” Alex said. “But freaking out isn’t going to help.”

“Says you. I can’t even open my eyes!”

“You can trust Hank, okay? I couldn’t control my powers for a long time and he invented something for me so that I could. Let’s see if they work, yeah? And if they don’t you can punch me in the face or blast my head off or whatever,” Alex said.

“For what it’s worth, I’m more confident in these than I was in what I gave Alex,” Hank said.

Scott didn’t move or speak for a moment, but then he let out a heaving sigh and rocked up so that he was standing again. Alex straightened, the anxiety in his chest loosening.

“Gimme the stupid glasses,” Scott said flailing his hand back in Hank’s general direction.

Hank handed them over and Scott shoved them on with a rough hand before opening his eyes. The light from his eyes hit the glass and for a brief moment, it was as if everyone was holding their breath waiting for the glasses to shatter. Scott’s lips twitched into something close to a smile when nothing happened.

“Can you see okay?” Hank asked.

“Yeah, fine actually. Was kind of starting to miss it,” Scott said. “You should make some with something on the sides though. Kind of hard to go out with visible laser beams.

“That shouldn’t be too hard to modify,” Hank said. “Sorry that we can’t really help you control it; I know that’s what Alex promised you.”

The smile Scott shot Hank’s way was painfully fake, at least as far as Alex could tell.

“It’s cool. Now do I get my own room or what?” Scott asked, heading for the stairs without sparing Charles a single glance.

"Uh, sure,” Hank said, trailing after him. He gave Charles a questioning look but after Charles nodded, he followed Scott out of the bunker.

Alex waited until the steel door was firmly latched before looking back at Charles. “You realize this make things ten times harder for Scott, right?”

"You know that wasn’t my intention, Alex. I did what I thought was best,” Charles said. “I get lying to Scott,” Ink said. “But you have no excuse for lying to Alex, especially since you were working on neutralizing Scott’s powers anyways. Why lie?”

"Ink,” Alex began, but stopped when Ink shot him a quick glare.

“You like him too much to actually question anything he says,” Ink said.

“You have no real reason to be suspicious of me but I understand why you would be,” Charles said, turning his wheelchair so he could look at Ink. “And in your defense, I haven’t exactly given you any sort of reason to trust me.”

“No, not really. All I’ve seen you do so far is lie to Alex and hurt his family.”

Charles shifted in his chair, the frustration in his expression clear. “You’re right, and I apologize to both of you for that. I’m not exactly the teacher I used to be, I’m aware of that.”

“Yeah, manipulating people is new, but I get it, and I think I get why you did it too,” Alex said. “It’s about control, isn’t it?”    

Charles frowned. “What do you mean?”

“We all left you and you couldn’t stop us,” Alex said, stepping closer. “Erik, Raven, me…and the rest of us are dead and you couldn’t stop that from happening either. And now you can rebuild and if you do it right, if you make sure we stay and you train us and keep us safe, then It’ll be okay this time. You won’t lose us again.”

When Alex tried to meet his eyes, Charles looked away.

“Something like that I suppose, yes,” Charles said softly. “When did you become so good at analyzing someone’s actions?”

“Think I learned that from you,” Alex said. “You always were able to tell what I was thinking without reading my mind, just by watching me. You were a god teacher, Charles. You’d be a better one if you didn’t try to control us so much.”

Charles finally looked back up at him, his gaze firm. “You’re right, Alex. I’m sorry. I can promise you I’ll do my best not to do it again, and like you said earlier, you’re not my student anymore. I have to learn to trust your judgment.”     

“And no holding back information,” Ink said.

 “Understood,” Charles said. “I’m sorry for making you as uneasy as I did, Ink. That was never my intention.”

“I know,” Ink said, leaning down to pick up his bag. “We should go help Scott settle in.”

Alex grabbed the other bag and followed after him.

 

-.-

 

“Can you do me a favor?”

Ink rolled onto his side, kicking the sheets further down the bed as he did so. Alex couldn’t see his expression. “Sure.”

“Can you tell me what Scott’s thinking?”

“I mean, sure, but why?” Ink asked. “You never like when I read people’s minds without a good reason.”

"Like when you read Charles earlier,” Alex said.

Ink sighed. “I couldn’t get a good read on him even if I tried harder. His passive defenses were too good, but I knew he’d been hiding something and it turns out I was right. So. Totally justified in trying to read his mind.”

“Yes, you were,” Alex said.

“But Scott isn’t really dangerous, so why do you want me to read his mind?”

“Just to know if he’s okay,” Alex said. “The last few days have been rough on him.”

Ink sighed and rolled onto his back. His tattoos glowed for a moment before fading away as he turned back on his side to look at Alex. “He’s fine. He’s down in Hank’s lab with him and they’re talking about something to do with his glasses.”

“This late?”

“Being restless after all of this isn’t really surprising,” Ink said. “He and Hank are getting along though.”

“I’m not surprised. Scott was always nicer than me,” Alex said.

Ink rubbed his hand over Alex’s face. “Shut up, you’re fine.”

Alex knocked it away with a laugh. “I appreciate the sentiment.” He grabbed Ink’s hand in between his and let them rest on his stomach. “I’m glad he’s okay though.”

“No thanks to Charles,” Ink said, tugging his hand back out of Alex’s grasp.

Alex sighed. “What is your problem with him, seriously? Are you jealous or something?”

“That’s…” Ink let out a sigh of his own. “That’s part of it.”

“Which is wrong. You can’t be jealous of everyone in my life, Ink, that’s fucked up,,” Alex said, sitting up and reaching over to flick on the lamp.

“I know, I know,” Ink said, wiping his hands down his face. “But it’s more than that. You look up to Charles so much that you let him walk all over you.”

“That’s not what happened,” Alex said, voice going flat as anger tried to flare up in his chest. “Just because I didn’t scream at him doesn’t mean I wasn’t upset. Yelling at him wouldn’t help. I know what he’s been through, Ink, and I know he’s struggling with the fear that what happened before might happen again. You know, kind of how it was for me a year ago. For you. We didn’t spend all that time together yelling at each other. It wouldn’t have helped.”

Ink was silent and for a moment, Alex was almost worried that he’d gone too far. Not that what he was saying wasn’t true, but he didn’t want Ink to completely shut down the conversation either.

“Look. You’re right, I get it. But I just can’t trust a guy that manipulates people so thoughtlessly,” Ink said. “He didn’t even realize it was wrong until we said something.”

Alex laid back down, tugging at Ink’s arm until he acquiesced and rolled into Alex’s grip. “Charles isn’t your fucking dealer, alright? He’s not going to use you, or blackmail you. That’s not the kind of guy he is.”   

“Just give it some time, okay?” Ink mumbled into his chest. “Maybe we’ll warm up to each other.”

“You’ve gotta be open to the idea before that can happen,” Alex said.

Ink wiggled closer, legs twining with Alex’s. “I know. I’ll try.”

 

-.-

 

When Alex headed downstairs the next morning to the kitchen, before anyone else was up, he was greeted by the sight of a man he’d never seen before sitting at the table with his chair cocked back and his legs up on the table as he ate cereal out of the box in big handfuls. There were goggles on top of his head, nestled in a crazy mess of grey hair.

“Uh…”

“Oh hey!” The man vanished, cereal box tipping onto the table, and then suddenly the man was right in front of him, holding his hand out to shake. “Peter. Haven’t met you. I was looking for the Professor actually but I already checked and he’s sleeping so I figured I’d wait.”

“And you know Charles how, exactly?” Alex asked, taking Peter’s hand and shaking it.

Peter vanished and reappeared at the table, popping another handful of cereal into his mouth. “Helped him break Erik out. Total regret about that by the way, I’ve decided to never steal anything again.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Charles said as he wheeled himself into the room. “What brings you here, Peter?”

"You know, just…” Peter’s gaze slid over to Alex.

“You can talk in front of him,” Charles said. “He’s an old friend.”

“Ever kill anyone? No offense, just Charles’ track record of old friends…” Peter gave an overdramatic grimace and tilted his hand back and forth a bit. “Little rough.”

“Only during the war,” Alex said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Sucks,” Peter said before turning back to Charles. “I was wondering if you knew where I could find Erik.”

“What?” Charles asked, eyebrows pinching together. “Why on Earth would you want to find him?”

"I’ve got a guilty conscience for once in my life,” Peter said with a nervous smile.

“You’re a shit liar,” Alex said, raising an eyebrow.

“Besides, if your goal is to kill Erik, I won’t help you,” Charles said. “Peter, what’s this really about?”

"Uh…” Peter rocked back and forth on his heels, eyes darting around the room. “So he’s like, probably my dad or whatever. Definitely my dad. My mom confirmed it a little while ago actually.”

“Oh,” Charles said. “I…uh…”

“Sucks,” Alex said with a smirk, then looked over at Charles. “Have you really not been keeping track of Erik after everything he’s done?”

“He seemed content to be left alone. As long as he isn’t a threat to anyone, I see no reason to try and hunt him down,” Charles said.

“So you’re not helping me then?” Peter cut in.

“I’ll help you locate him but I highly advise you don’t pursue him,” Charles said. “Erik is a highly volatile person and finding out he has a long lost son isn’t exactly a guarantee that he won’t lash out at you.”

“Dude’s scary but I can still out run him,” Peter said.

Charles hesitated another moment before nodding. “Fine. Alex, would you mind accompanying us to Cerebro?”

“Sure.”

Charles led the way to the same elevator as before, but instead of hitting the key for the basement he pulled a key from his pocket to fit in the emergency key hole. Unlocked it slid back a panel revealing an unmarked button. Charles pressed it and the elevator lurched downwards.            

“So uh, maybe I shouldn’t ask because we just met and all, but what do you think finding Erik is going to accomplish exactly?” Alex asked.

Peter shrugged, shoving his hands in the pockets of his silver jeans. “Not sure. All I know is I’m going crazy knowing he’s out there and not being able to…whatever. It’s not like I expect him to come be a dad to me and my sis or something. Guess I just want answers.”

“Fair enough,” Alex said as the elevator came to a stop.

Charles led them down a brightly lit hallway to a large, circular steel door. “Finding Erik might just make things harder for you, Peter.”

“Better than not knowing,” Alex said, glancing over at Peter and exchanging a quick smile.

“I like this guy,” Peter said.

“Fantastic. I needed two rebellious mutants making my life more difficult,” Charles said as the eye scanner read his eye. The door lock spun, the heavy metal locks slowly retracting as the door began to roll into the wall.

The new Cerebro was a lot to take in, the circular walls curving down and out of sight as they plunged deeper into the ground. Alex had never really been afraid of heights. Walking out to the console on the narrow path made his stomach lurch though. He buried his hands in his pockets, nails biting at his palms.

Charles grabbed the head piece, fitting it on his head with practiced ease. The walls lit up, a deep red that glowed brighter as Charles fiddled with the controls. What started as a whisper crescendoed into a shout, thousands of voices twisting together as Charles began to shuffle through person after person before finally settling on…

“He hasn’t changed,” Alex said quietly as the glowing blue image of Erik appeared before them.

"No, he hasn’t,” Charles said, voice soft. “I have a location. He’s in East Berlin.” He disconnected from Cerebro, the images cutting out as he set the headpiece aside. “Again, I must stress the danger of what you’re doing. Poland is just as dangerous as East Germany and frankly, Peter, you aren’t equipped for blending in. You can’t run from everything.”

“Ink and I can,” Alex said. “Blend in I mean. When we were in Vietnam, we had a lot of stealth training for reconnaissance and stuff.”

“I trust Peter’s reasons for going after Erik. I’m not so sure about yours,” Charles said.   

Alex folded his arms across his chest. “We talked about this yesterday. This can’t work unless we trust each other, and honestly, out of everyone here, I’m the best equipped to deal with Erik. I know what he’s capable of, I won’t underestimate him, and I definitely would rather avoid fighting him.”

“It makes me uneasy, but I won’t fight you on this,” Charles said. “You’ll want to leave soon. He doesn’t plan on lingering for long. You have a few days at most.”

“Thanks,” Peter said, looking over at Alex. “I mean, breaking into the Pentagon was a lot, but this is like a whole new country and shit. You don’t even know me.”

Alex shrugged. “I came back here to help mutants, so let’s go find your shitty dad.”

 

-.-

 

“So you’re leaving again.” Scott didn’t look up from the book he’d borrowed from Hank, shoulders hunched forward as he leaned over his desk.

“Not permanently,” Alex said from where he leaned against the door jamb. “A few weeks at most.”

“Yeah, whatever. Have fun helping other people.”

Alex groaned and shuffled further into the room, leaning over Scott and wrapping an arm around his chest to haul him close. “Don’t be stupid. I care about you so damn much, kid. We’re family. You’re always going to come first, okay? I’m not fucking that up again.”

Scott’s hand came up to grip Alex’s forearm, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise. “If you meant that, you’d stay.”

"You’re acting like a brat,” Alex sighed as he rested his chin on top of Scott’s head. “But if you get worried, just ask Charles to check up on me. He’s probably going to be doing it anyways.”

Scott’s grip loosened and Alex tugged free. “Fine. Just don’t die.”

“I’ve got no plans to. Promise.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex gets a rude awakening to mutant cage fighting and an old friend makes an appearance.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

Alex fastened his seatbelt tight, then tightened it further after a moment of hesitation. Ink wiggled his hand in between where their legs were pressed together so he could twine their fingers together.

“You know, I’ve never been on a plane before,” Peter said from the other side of Ink. “So maybe I don’t know much about them, but why are you two all…tense?”

“Too much parachuting overseas. Kinda takes the fun out of it to be honest,” Ink said through gritted teeth.

“Right, right,” Peter said. “So where exactly are we landing?”

“This isn’t exactly the place to talk about the logistics of what we’re doing,” Alex said as the engines rumbled to life.

“Right, got it.”

Alex glanced over at him, watching the spastic tapping of Peter’s fingers on the arm rest. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Watching someone else be anxious wasn’t going to help him, and he had a feeling Peter’s twitchiness wasn’t going to go away any time soon.

 

-.-

 

The smart thing to do after landing in Paris in the middle of the afternoon would be too start their journey to Germany. Given that none of them had slept since the day before, Alex led them to the nearest hotel and booked them a room with two beds. Peter kicked off his shoes on his way to the bed furthest from the door before face-planting into the pillow. Less than a minute later, he was snoring.

“Plane must have been too slow for him,” Ink said. “He’s a bit of a weird guy.”

“Hard to believe he’s Erik’s kid,” Alex said as he sat down on the bed and started tugging off his shoes.

“It’s not like homicidal tendencies are genetic, at least I don’t think so,” Ink said, sitting down beside him. “Why do you want to help Peter so bad anyways? I know Erik’s the last person you want to see.”

Alex flopped back on the bed, tired and aching eyes closing of their own volition. “Erik like… _loved_ Charles. We could all see it, but even that wasn’t enough to keep him from going off the deep end and nearly getting all of us killed. If I were to guess…we weren’t good enough to replace what he lost. Maybe Peter…maybe if Erik _knows_ he still has a family, he’ll stop trying to ruin everything.”

"Bingo,” Peter said, voice thick with exhaustion.

“Shit. Sorry. Thought you were asleep,” Alex said without moving.

“Nah, it’s cool. I mean, the guy seems pretty shitty, but after everything he said…if there’s a chance I can stop him, I have to try.”

"No offense, but that seems really responsible for a guy like you,” Ink said, hand reaching out to absentmindedly rub his hand over Alex’s chest.

“Yeahhhh,” Peter said. “Can’t argue with you there. A guilty conscience is a hell of a thing though.”

Alex turned on his side to look at Peter, but Peter’s face was still half buried in his pillow. “You can’t blame Erik’s actions on yourself.”

"I _did_ break him out of prison,” Peter said.

"Charles would’ve found a way with or without your help though,” Alex said.

"Maybe like his now, but not back then,” Peter said. “Charles was a bit of a mess back then.”

"Still doesn’t help to blame yourself for someone else’s actions,” Ink said.

“I know. But at least after this, I’ll know I did everything I could,” Peter said. “That way, no guilt.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Alex said.

And it did, at least until he applied it to his own life, to what he’d done to Darwin, to what-

“So what was he like before he became interested in murderous rampages?” Peter asked.

Alex turned to stare up at the ceiling. “Okay. Harsher than Charles, but he cared about us, wanted to make sure we could defend ourselves. A lot of tough love. But if it weren’t for him, I think Raven would still hate herself.”

Peter sat up, folding his legs beneath him. “That’s the blue woman, right?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, looking over at him. “Though I guess she goes by Mystique now.” He couldn’t help the short laugh that escaped him.

"What’s funny about it? It’s a little corny, but I still think it’s cool,” Peter said.

“It’s not that.” Alex sat up, leaning back into Ink’s arms as he did so. “Back when Charles and Erik gathered us up, we came up with codenames. She picked Mystique for herself. They decided Havok was a good fit for me, and actually, now that I’m thinking about it, she’s the one who came up with Magneto.”

“Guess her names stick,” Peter said. “If Erik helped her so much, how come she betrayed him like that?”

“No offense, but she’s better than him, Charles too. She gets that the world is guly, but she doesn’t want to destroy it because of that.”

Peter looked down at his hands, fingers fiddling together. “What does she want?”

“What a lot of us want. To be left alone,” Ink said with a shrug. “And Trask wasn’t leaving us alone. Alex and I were almost experiments for him, but Mystique saved us just before they could ship us off.”

“So she’s like someone who doesn’t _want_ to be a hero but she got dragged into it,” Peter said.

“Well, not quite. She did want to help at first, but with the way Erik and Charles were…I think she just didn’t want to pick a side and feed the conflict,” Alex said.

“I get that,” Peter said, nodding. “And it’s not just because I’m lazy or whatever.” Peter looked up, a hint of a smile on his lips. “I mean, I am, but I don’t want to be a huge part of some huge ideological, whatever. I just…want to make the world suck a little less for mutants.”

"I’m in the same boat. Unfortunately, I’m dating this loser,” Ink said, flicking Alex’s temple. “But I think I’m probably a better person for it.”

“Fucking knew it,” Peter said.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“That you’re dating,” Peter said.

“What gave it away, the cuddling or the literal statement?” Ink asked dryly.

Alex elbowed his side. “Don’t be rude. Two guys dating isn’t exactly common.

“Plus you’re mutants. Seems like a bit of a double whammy,” Peter said. “Not that I care. And I’m not just saying that because I’m completely dependent on you guys over here.”

“Your dad tried to kill the president. Hard to judge people,” Ink said.

“Rude, but arguably true,” Peter said. “If we’re done bonding about our misfit status though, I’d like to go to sleep. Try not to fuck too loud though. I need my beauty rest.”

Alex chucked a pillow at him.

 

-.-

 

First thing in the morning, they pay for transport to Berlin in a truck delivering food. There were legitimate ways to get into the city, but as far as the French governments customs were aware, they were still in Paris. They were better off covering their tracks. Ink slumped against him, eyes closed as he slept even with the jostling of food crates all around them. Across the truck bed, Peter replaced the batteries in his Walkman and began to rewind the tape.

“I’m amazed you’re actually managing to sit still,” Alex said. “It’s been a few hours.”

Peter shrugged. “No sense in using up all my energy.”

Before he could press play on the Walkman, the truck lurched to a stop and Alex barely managed to catch the crate that nearly crushed them. Ink frowned, getting to his feet as his telepathic tattoos glowed. The back doors were thrown open and a woman jumped in. Alex tried to get to his feet only to find himself unable to move. When he managed to move his eyes just enough to see Peter, he looked equally frozen.

“Stop fighting me,” the woman said, gaze fixed on Ink as her arms began to glow with a deep purple light. “I don’t want to damage the goods.”

Ink grunted, falling to one knee as the Phoenix tattoo began to glow.

“I don’t think so!”

The woman sprung over the crate between them, kicking Ink in the chin and sending him flying backwards. She reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and after that, there was nothing.

 

-.-

 

When Alex came to, his head pounded with a dull throb, made worse by the rough concrete he found himself lying on. He bit the inside of his cheek and forced himself upright. He was in a cell of some kind, a dim light above his head giving him just enough light to see through the mesh metal wall, across the hall and into an identical looking cell to see Peter. The mesh and dim light made it impossible to tell if he was awake.

Alex took a deep breath, willing his heartbeat to slow to try and make the panic subside. After a moment, he inched closer to the cell door. The mesh crackled and hummed, a barely there noise that betrayed the electrical current coursing through it. He took another breath, digging in deep for his power but…

He couldn’t find it.

“Alright cool. No powers,” he hissed out under his breath.

“It’s the electrical current and magnets in the door. The frequency messes with our ability to access our powers,” a woman’s voice said somewhere to his left.

“And where exactly are we?”

"Not sure,” she said. “Somewhere in Germany I think. They’re all humans too, well, everyone except Psylocke. We’re here as entertainment.”

“What?”

Light flooded the hallway as a door somewhere out of sight slammed open. Alex watched, breath tight in his chest, as two heavily armed guards dragged a bloodied and unconscious man down the hallway. The clanking of a cell door opening echoed down the hall, followed by the solid thud of the man being dropped inside.

"Who else wants to play tonight?” one of the guards asked, heavy footsteps carrying him closer to Alex’s cell. He stopped in front of it, glancing between Peter’s prone body and Alex. “We’ve got some new meat. I didn’t realize Psylocke had gone out again.”

“Grab him and the magnet girl,” the other called.

Alex got to his feet as the man unlocked the door, mind racing through his options. The AR-15 aimed at his chest eliminated any plan. He kept himself against the cinderblock wall when the man nudged him towards it, more interested in the woman he’d been talking to being guided out of her cell.

She was tall, dressed in ripped jeans and a grey sweater covered in grime and what looked like dried blood. Her hair was a tangled mess of green curls, matted in some places, but otherwise just limp.    

“Can I tell him what’s happening?” she asked as the guards pushed them down the hall and up the stairs.

“Won’t help him any,” the one with his gun pressed in the small of Alex’s back said.

"It’s cage fighting. You’ll be able to use your powers, but the cage is still electrified,” the woman explained in a rush. “Psylocke won’t let you break out, and if you try, our lovely friends will shoot you.”

“Okay, so how do we get out then?” Alex asked.

“Whoever kills the other gets to live another day,” she said.

Alex’s stomach lurched. “Great.”

“I’m Polaris, by the way,” she said as they stopped before a metal door. “You?”

“Is this really the time for pleasantries?” Alex asked.

Polaris glared at him. “If I kill you and escape one day, I’d like to be able to tell people who died in this shit hole.”

Alex bit the inside of his cheek, trying to fight passed the panic in his chest. “Havok. The people who matter to me know me as Havok.”

Polaris gave a short nod. “Nice to meet you, Havok.”

The door opened and they were pushed into the metal cage. The lights were glaringly bright to the point of being disorienting and the roar of the crowd only made it worse. His mind clicked along, slow as molasses as he tried to process everything as the effect of the magnets and whatever Psylocke had done to him began to wear off. Polaris didn’t seem to suffer from the feeling. She leapt up into the air, the cage rattling as she used her power to repel herself from the metal and float.

“Alright folks! Time to place your bets. Fan favorite, Polaris, who has been with us for nearly six weeks which is in fact a new record!” shouted some announcer from somewhere out of sight. “Or, our newest catch. There are rumors that this mutant is rather explosive and while he looks nice, we have it on good authority he’s killed his friends before so clearly, we have a very ruthless monster on our hands.”

“How…?” Alex shook his head. It didn’t matter how they knew, though he’d bet it was Psylocke. Knowing a stranger had been rooting around in his brain burned off the remaining exhaustion and he dug down deep. His power surged forward, more out of control than it had ever been.  

“Bets are in! Give us a show kids.”

Before Alex could move, Polaris rocketed forward, pulling up just before she reached him and snapping her foot into his jaw. He stumbled back, pain lancing through him as he collided with the electrical fence. He centered his energy down in his hand and then let it loose, not enough to kill but enough to send Polaris careening through the air and crashing into the fence.

She laid prone on the ground for a moment, but then her hand snuck under the fence as someone shoved something into her hand. She rocketed up to her feet and flung her hand out with a loud cry. Alex leapt to the side, narrowly dodging the knife. It didn’t do much good because she just twisted her hands to redirect it. Alex’s heart jumped up to his throat. He brought forth his energy and let it pulse off of him in a wave, knocking the knife off its path.

Polaris redirected it again so Alex grit his teeth, increasing the intensity enough to turn it to ash on the ground. The crowd exploded into cheers and when he looked back at Polaris, she looked scared. He hated it. He couldn’t kill someone who was just trying to survive. Polaris took advantage of his hesitation to lunge forward and land a solid punch to his jaw. Alex grabbed her wrist, yanking hard and then tossing her against the fence again.

She cried out as the electrical pulse raced through her before she crumpled to the ground. Alex approached her, heart pounding as his mind raced through his options. If he didn’t kill her, they’d be shot by the ring of guards outside of the cage. If he tried to break out, they’d be at Psylocke’s telepathic mercy. He hauled Polaris up by the front of her sweater. She clutched at his arms, nails sinking in as she kicked at him, too drained of energy to do much good. Her face twisted into an ugly snarl.

“Fucking kill me already you coward!” she hissed.

“I can’t.”

She spit in his face and struggled harder, almost breaking free. “Then let me kill you. I’m not dying because you’re too scared!”

Alex let his energy flow down into his free hand, the red hot glow making the crowd howl louder. Polaris glowered down at him, anger and hatred so strong it made his gut ache. Before he could decide what to do, the lights went out and the electrical buzzing of the fence cut out.

“Thank fuck.”

Polaris landed a solid kick to his stomach and he dropped her. There was a low groan of metal and then the screams started as the cage collapsed outwards from Polaris’ power, crushing those in its way. Polaris began to run but Alex snagged her wrist.

“We have to free the others,” he said.

"We don’t have time!” she hissed. Gunfire rang through the air as if to highlight her point.

“Fine, go. I’m going to get everyone else,” he said.

Alex ran for the door, charging up a blast and letting it melt a hole through the door. He raced down the steps, smiling to himself when he heard Polaris following him.

The cell hallway was lit by two emergency lights. Polaris shoved passed him, holding her hands out and then bringing them together to rip all the cell doors off their hinges. Other mutants emerged, some bothering with a quick thanks and others heading straight for the exit without a second look. Alex ran for Peter’s cell, relief flooding him when he saw Peter get to his feet.

“What’s happening?” Peter asked.

“You need to get out of here,” Alex said. “I told Charles I’d keep you safe, so you need to get out.”

"Don’t be dumb,” Peter said. “I’m better help if we run into trouble.”

"You know what? Fine. I’m not wasting time arguing.”

“So you’re learning,” Polaris said as Alex and Peter walked passed her, checking empty cell after empty cell for Ink.

They found Ink kneeling in the cell of the injured mutant from before, his healing hand glowing as he worked.

“Leave him,” Polaris said. “He’s barely a mutant anyways. He’ll be dead weight.”

"That’s a little cold,” a voice said from down the hall.

Alex whirled around to see Raven striding down the hall in her blue form. “Raven?”

“Don’t call me that,” she said. “You’re welcome, by the way, for cutting the power. I’ll carry the unconscious guy. I didn’t do all of this just to leave some of you guys behind.”

"It’s fine,” Ink said. He got to his feet, Phoenix tattoo glowing as the man’s body began to levitate. “Lead the way, Mystique. This is the second time you’ve saved my ass so I’m going to follow you.”

“Right.” Mystique brushed passed them, skin rippling as she changed into her old form and headed up the other set of stairs. “Follow the leader then.”

 

-.-

 

Mystique got them a room in a shitty motel but no one asked questions so that was all that really mattered. They sat the injured mutant on the bed and Ink took up residence next to his head, hand glowing as he continued to stitch the man back together. Peter sat in a chair at the corner of the room, feet tapping and fingers drumming against his knees. Polaris was in the shower, leaving Alex to sit on the floor under the windowsill with Mystique.

She had changed back to her blue form as soon as they entered the room. Now, looking at her, he couldn’t quite figure out what to think. In Vietnam she’d seemed focused, purpose driving every violent action, and for a while, as she’d led them out of the chaos of the mutant cage fighting, he’d felt like he was following the woman he had then. But the confidence and certainty of her actions had melted away with her fake form. With her knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped tight around them, and gaze fixed to the dingy alleyway outside the window all she did was look tired.

“You know, you’re not going to get any answers just staring at me,” Mystique said without looking away from the window.

“What was that place?” Peter blurted out before Alex could bother trying to string together a coherent response.

“Ever since Erik’s dramatic show in D.C., places like that have been cropping up all over,” Mystique said, uncurling a little. “People always treat the things they’re afraid of like animals, and people pay a lot of money to see the things they hate die. IT’s a lucrative business, but so was slavery.”

“So, what, you’ve been going around Europe crashing mutant fighting rings?” Alex asked.

Mystique shrugged. “Pretty much. The ones in Berlin, where we are, seem to be run by the same guy. I figure if I can disrupt his business enough, it’ll stop being profitable and he’ll give up.”

“But it only loses profitability if it causes enough civilian casualties. Who knows how many died tonight?” Alex shook his head. “The person-“

“You knew, wouldn’t let that happen,” Mystique finished for him as she got to her feet. “Spending time with Charles?”

“Raven-“

“No one who died in that room tonight was innocent Alex. Anyone who pays money to force mutants to kill each other for entertainment deserves what they get,” she spat, looming over him. “You’re welcome, by the way, for saving your life.”

“I had it under control,” Alex said, fingers curling into fists.

“Sure you did. We both know you’d never kill another person to save yourself, not after-“

Alex lunged to his feet, anger surging through him as he leaned into her space. “You have no fucking right to bring that up, not unless you really want to get into all the mistakes _you’ve_ made.”

Mystique’s jaw tightened, but before she could say anything, Peter was between them, uncomfortably close with his bony shoulders digging into their chests.

“I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say this _really_ isn’t the time for a _clearly_ personal conversation,” Peter said, eyes flicking between both of them. He brought up his hands to push them both back a few inches.

“Fine,” Mystique said, stepping back and striding for the door. “I’m going to get food. Don’t leave if you know what’s good for you.”

Her form fluttered into her old one as she slammed the door shut behind her. Peter looked at Alex and offered a helpless shrug before retreating to his seat. Alex took a deep breath and turned back to Ink. The other man’s head rested on Ink’s thigh while Ink leaned back against the headboard, exhaustion clear in his face.

“Is he okay?” Alex asked.

Ink nodded. “A lot of internal damage. He would’ve been dead in a few hours without treatment.”

“And you?”

“A pounding headache but nothing unbearable,” Ink said.

“So what did that woman mean when she said that guy’s barely a mutant?” Peter said.

"Not sure. Guy’s dealt with enough. Figure it’d be rude to root around in his brain on top of everything else that was done,” Ink said.

“Basically,” Polaris said, emerging from the bathroom wrapped in a towel. “His power means he’s just a little stronger and more durable than a well-trained human. Not very useful.”

“Being useful isn’t a requirement to deserving to live,” Alex said.

“You spend six weeks in that hell hole and then we’ll talk,” Polaris said, leaning against the bathroom doorway. “But hey, you saved him so this conversation is entirely pointless.”

"That’s a bit elitist,” Peter said.

“I’ll let you know when I care about your opinion,” she said without looking at him.

“Why are you even still here?” Ink asked. “Since you so clearly dislike us.”

“Well I’m not about to wander around East Berlin naked, am I?” she said. “Why are a bunch of English-only speaking mutants here anyways?”

“You speak English,” Peter pointed out.

"Well, obviously, but I was born here and speak both languages fluently,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

Alex glanced over at Ink, who also had a curious look on his face. “Do you know who your dad is, by the way?”

Polaris looked over at him, crooking one eyebrow up. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Just uh…we’re looking for a German guy that controls metal, that also lives in East Berlin,” Alex said.

“Well, I don’t know anything about that,” she said. “I never knew my birth family, so I wouldn’t know if we have that in common.”

 _That seems to be a trend with Erik. You sure he and Charles were in love?_ Ink asked in Alex’s mind.

“The guy has a habit of being everyone’s dad,” Peter said.

Polaris didn’t seem impressed. “Right, well not every German that controls metal is related. So, what, you’re here to find that guy. What for?”

“He’s got anger issues,” Peter said.

“Uh-huh,” Polaris said.

“What’s your real name, by the way?” Alex asked, sitting on the end of the bed. “All we did was give each other pseudonyms.”

“Lorna. My name is Lorna,” she said. “And sorry, I prefer not to give it to people I have to kill to survive.”

“I don’t hold it against you for what it’s worth,” Alex said.

The door opened before Lorna could say anything in response. Mystique kicked the door shut behind her, tossing a bag of what smelled like takeaway diner food at Alex and a lumpy paper bag at Lorna. Alex began to divide up the wrapped hamburgers, watching out of the corner of his eye as Lorna pulled out a pair of black jeans and a blue sweater complete with a black cap.

“Uh, thanks,” Lorna said.

Mystique sat down by the windowsill as she fluttered back into her normal, blue form. “No problem. Changing back into bloody clothes is never fun.”

Lorna flashed her a genuine smile and disappeared into the bathroom. Alex glanced at Ink and then dug into his food. When Lorna emerged again and retrieved her food, the room was still silent, no one willing to talk first to try and cut the tension.

Alex figured it probably made sense for him to apologize. He was angry, still, that Mystique chose to abandon them in Cuba, and that she seemed so hard and unreachable when he’d hoped maybe they could try again. He’d pushed her the way Charles had done to them all. Even with that, he wasn’t sure how to rationalize trying to be friends with her when she so carelessly cast aside the lives of any human.

Of course, he understood where her anger came from. He had felt it earlier tonight, when they’d cheered as he and Lorna tried their hardest to survive against each other when their real enemy surrounded them. But he kept a tight hold of that anger. He had to. He’d seen that anger spiral out of control. They all had, both in Cuba and in D.C.

“I’m sorry,” Alex blurted out, looking over at Mystique. “We disagree, a lot, but I shouldn’t keep bringing it up.”

“Let’s go for a walk,” Mystique said, getting to her feet.

Alex shoved his half-eaten food back in the bag and followed after her. In all honesty, the last thing he wanted to do was walk, his body still aching from all he’d endured in the last 24 hours. It wasn’t the worst he’d been through, but then, that bar was pretty damn high.

As they exited the hotel, Mystique changed into her old form, shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. She always looked more confident in a fake form. Alex had a feeling it wasn’t just a matter of blending in, but of the sense of security that came from wearing a mask, one that was physical, not just mental. It made it easy to understand why she’d flee Charles and his ideals at the first opportunity. When he and Charles said she wasn’t the girl they used to know, it wasn’t entirely accurate. None of them, except Erik, really knew her in the first place.

“You think damn loud, you know that?” Mystique asked.

“Sorry, I guess.”

She bumped shoulders with him. “And thanks for saying sorry earlier too. I didn’t expect it after…”

Alex kept his gaze ahead on the dimly lit street, hands shoved in his pockets and curled into fists. “Bringing up Darwin was a low blow. But…I don’t know. I don’t want to lose track of you again now that we’ve met up again. Picking fights isn’t exactly the best way to convince someone to hang around.”

“Not really, no,” she said. He glanced over at her but she’d ducked her head to stare at the ground. “But I’m sorry for bringing up Darwin. That wasn’t your fault and saying it that way…it’s not your fault.”

Silence stretched between them but it didn’t feel awkward and tense like before. Alex didn’t have a clue where they were walking, but it was nice not to think about it and rely on Mystique instead to get them from point A to point B. As they walked, the tension from the events from earlier began to drain out of him, leaving behind a raw feeling like he’d been crawling over barbed wire.

“Starting to feel it, huh?” Mystique asked.

“I’ve been through so much shit. You’d think eventually it wouldn’t hurt so bad,” Alex said.

“It’s probably good that we still feel it,” Mystique said, tugging one of his hands out of his pockets so she could hold it in her own. “I think if we stopped, we’d be like Erik.”

“You’re the one who went with him,” Alex said, but there wasn’t any anger in his voice. He was too tired.”

“Yeah, but I just learned first-hand why he was wrong,” she said.

"But you don’t care about all those people,” Alex said. “So how…?”

Mystique stopped walking so she could face him head on. “Do you though? Do you really care that some of those people are dead when they almost made you kill someone for their entertainment?”

Alex opened his mouth to speak, struggling with the words. “I don’t want to kill them.”

“Neither do I, and I haven’t. That doesn’t mean I have to mourn the deaths of my oppressors,” she said. “That anger you feel towards them, that hate…it doesn’t mean you have to do something with it or lash back out like Erik does. Being angry, not caring when the people who hurt you die, doesn’t make you a monster.”

“Isn’t not caring the first step towards becoming Erik?” Alex said, voice soft.

“It doesn’t have to be,” she said. “You feel something when they die. So do I. There’s a difference between being glad someone is dead and being glad you’re still alive.”

His hand tightened around hers. “Like the war. I…felt that feeling a lot.” His throat tightened and burned, so he looked down, trying to get himself under control.

Mystique tugged him close, arms wrapping around his neck as she kissed his forehead. “That’s the problem, Alex. Our very existence requires us to be at war, if not physically, than mentally. You can’t hate yourself for how angry or upset that makes you. It’s not your fault for being alive.”

Alex leaned into her weight, face dropping to rest against her neck as his arms curled around her waist. “You won’t come back with us though, will you…”

“Maybe one day,” she said. “I’m still figuring out what I want. But…I won’t lose touch. Maybe I’ll even visit.”

“We’re rebuilding the school, Hank, Charles, Ink, and I,” Alex said as he pulled away again.

“Is that how you ended up here?” she asked, arms dropping to her sides.

“Actually, we’re looking for Erik,” Alex said. It was easier to talk now, even if he couldn’t quite let go of her hand. “It’s Peter, the silver-haired guy? He’s Erik’s son.”

"Shit,” she said, eyebrows raising. “So Erik’s in Berlin?”

“That’s what Charles said,” Alex said.

“Huh…” She released his hand. “I’ll help you. But you’ve got to help me too.”

“With what?”

“I need to find the bastard that’s running these mutant cage fights and honestly? This Psylocke woman isn’t someone I can go head to head with,” Mystique said. “If I have your help, there’s a chance I can really stop it, maybe help the mutants here organize to stop it from happening again.”

“I’ll have to talk to Ink and Peter first but I don’t see why not,” Alex said.

“I can’t guarantee no one will end up dead. If it comes down to me or them, I’m picking me,” she said.

“I understand.”

“Good.” She took his hand again. “We should probably head back and get some rest then.”

Alex let her lead the way back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group hunts down information on the ringleader for the mutant cage fighting matches and find themselves face to face with old foes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like, I know no one is reading this but I'm sorry for the late update. I've been struggling with a lot of health issues. But those are starting to get under control and also I really love this story? So I'm with it until it's finished. I have plans! Hopefully you like this next chapter. Comments are loved.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

None of them slept well. Peter took the bed with their unconscious friend and the rest of them took the floor. Every time Alex woke up throughout the night, there was always someone else sitting up, either by the window or where they slept. It wasn’t that the floor was uncomfortable. Alex had a feeling it wasn’t due to the lack of bed. After all, besides Peter, they were all used to sleeping on uncomfortable surfaces for their own reasons. Sleeping in a room with strangers? That was enough to keep all of them from relaxing.

When morning came, Mystique was the only one who looked remotely rested. Alex and Ink both grabbed separate showers while Mystique and Lorna left in search of breakfast, and when Alex emerged from the bathroom, their unconscious friend was finally awake. He sat on the windowsill, arms folded across his chest as he stared at Peter. Peter glanced at Alex from where he sat on the bed and gave a helpless shrug.

“Uh, hi,” Alex said.

“I take it you all saved me then?” he asked.

“Yeah. Ink, the guy in the shower, he’s the one who healed you,” Alex said. “Mystique is the one who helped all of us escape.”

“Thank you,” he said.

"What’s your name?” Alex asked. “If you don’t mind sharing.”

“Warpath. You may call me Warpath,” the man said.

“Right, okay,” Alex said. “Well, I’m Alex, that’s Peter…” Alex shook his head. “Screw the small talk. We’re going after the people who are organizing the mutant fighting rings you were put into like the rest of us or not. No hard feelings.”

Warpath didn’t take long to consider the offer. “I will join you. Then I must return to my family in America.”

“That’s a hell of a journey,” Peter said.

“Hm?” Warpath’s eyes narrowed.

“We’re in East Berlin,” Alex said.

“Fantastic,” Warpath said, tone dry.

“We’ve got a telepath with us,” Alex said. He looked back out the window, which Alex supposed was the last of that.

By the time Ink got out of the shower, Mystique and Lorna had returned with food. Alex introduced Warpath, who nodded at them each in turn before turning his attention back to the window.

“So no food then?” Mystique asked, moving to sit down on the floor next to him.

“I can obtain my own later,” he said.

“Not without sticking out like a sore thumb,” Mystique said. She pulled out two bagels and set them on the windowsill before turning her attention to the rest of them. “So we need to figure out what we’re doing.”

“Finding Erik is a little more time sensitive, isn’t it?” Alex asked, taking a bagel from the bag Lorna passed him before giving it to Ink. “He has to be on the move. It’d be hard to stay in one place after what he did.”

“Unless he’s here for a reason,” Ink said. “Remember his speech? He was all about rising up and fighting back against human oppressors before they could cage us.”

“And there’s a lot of us caged here,” Peter said.

“All over,” Mystique said. “But yeah, there’s a pretty large concentration here.”

“So what, we just hope we come across Erik?” Alex asked.

“Well, I have a few different leads to chase down here,” Mystique said.

“Then I have some people I can reach out to,” Lorna said. “Made my living as a criminal and managing to get out of one of those hell holes will make people more willing to help.”

“Will you be fine on your own?” Alex asked.

 Lorna raised an eyebrow. “What? Do I look like I need protection?”

“That’s not-“

“Besides, people won’t be honest if I’ve got someone with me. I’ll be fine,” Lorna said.

“Well,” Mystique said. “I have three potential leads. I’ll take Peter with me. Alex, you can take Warpath, and Ink, you’re on your own. You seem to have a wide enough array of abilities to handle yourself.”

“Works for me,” Ink said.

Alex couldn’t shake his suspicion, despite how honest Mystique had seemed the night before. He didn’t have a good argument for why he should be with Peter instead, and he supposed if it get really bad, Peter could always run. He just hoped Peter would have enough sense to do so.

 

-.-

 

"Who are we tracking?” Warpath asked.

“I guess he’s some sort of smuggler,” Alex said, keeping his voice low as they made their way through back alleys towards the wall dividing the city. “He gets people from West Berlin to the other side of the wall.”

“So what is your plan?”

Alex glanced over at him. “Break the door down and grab him.”

Warpath’s expression didn’t change, but Alex had a strange feeling that he was being judged. “Were you not part of intelligence work in Vietnam?”

"Yeah, but Mystique just wants to question him,” Alex said. “We don’t need stealth to do that.”

“I do not trust her,” Warpath said, turning his gaze back to the alley ahead of them. “We should question him ourselves and ensure we do not alert anyone up the chain that we are on to them.”

Alex ignored his gut reaction to defend Mystique, especially since he’d had the same reservations about her. He wondered if there’d ever be a point where he didn’t hold two images of who Mystique was in his head, and if he’d ever really be able to trust her.

“Okay, all fair points,” Alex said. “So, how’d you end up all the way over here?”

Warpath remained silent for almost too long before finally speaking. “My brother. He was over here with a friend and captured by these monsters. I came to save him but was caught as well.”

“Did he-“

“I killed him in a match. I had to.” Warpath didn’t look at him.

“I’m sorry.” The thought of having to kill his brother to survive made his stomach roll, especially with his fight with Lorna still recent and fresh in his mind. “You were pitted against each other then?”       

“Yes.” Warpath looked at him. “All the more reason to make sure we do this right.”

“Revenge won’t bring you peace,” Alex said, the words spilling out of him before he could think of how insensitive it sounded. “I just mean…the guy we’re trying to find, he got so obsessed with revenge he turned into a monster. I get that it hurts but-“

“You understand very little.”

Alex grabbed Warpath’s shoulder and slammed him into the wall. “I get that we’re both under a lot of stress right now, but I am not giving you my life history to earn your respect and trust on this. Don’t belittle me.”

"Then do not lecture me about how to deal with my grief.”

“Fair.” Alex let go of him. “We’re close to his location though. What strategy do we want to take?”

“Bait,” Warpath said. “He’s a smuggler for the money. If you tell him you have someone, it’ll be easy to get him to follow you. You look German as well; that should help him trust you a bit more.”

“Fair enough,” Alex said. “It’ll be better if you knock him out. My powers have a tendency to draw a lot of attention, but Mystique said these guys have ways of incapacitating mutants. Let’s not end up in a cage again, yeah?”

“I want to be there less than you.”

Alex stopped. “You should stay here. His place is just a head. Try to look like I knocked you out, yeah?” 

Warpath nodded and Alex jogged ahead, winding his way through a few more alleys before taking a moment to steady himself mentally for what he had to do. He wasn’t a great actor. Sean had been good at impressions, entertaining them all when they’d still been at their CIA base. Alex couldn’t even lie convincingly. He shook off his nerves and rounded the corner at a dead sprint, skidding to a halt in front of the smuggler’s door and pounding on it.

“Hey man, open up! C’mon Wolfie, I know you’re here!”

The door swung open and he was hauled inside and tossed to the ground, a gun cocking as it pointed at his face. The smuggler, Wolfgang had a scraggly brown beard and a shaved head. Alex tried not to think about how the guy had twice the muscle he did as he sat up with his hands held out in a pacifying gesture.”

“Easy big guy. This how you treat all your potential business partners?” Alex asked.

“I don’t work with Americans, especially noisy ones that draw too much attention,” Wolfgang said, voice heavily accented. “Who sent you?”

 “Erick,” Alex said. “Well he told me where to find you.”

“Erick Fischer?” Wolfgang lowered the gun. “Didn’t know he kept Yanks as friends.”

“We’re like acquaintances,” Alex said, getting to his feet nice and slow. “He took me to one of the shows with the freaks and then we heard about all that shit from last night.”

Wolfgang jammed his gun in its holster and walked over to the rickety kitchen table, which was full of empty beer bottles. “It’s a huge fucking loss of revenue is what it is.”           

Alex took the other seat. “Yeah, well I can help.” He fiddled with a beer cap, leg bouncing up and down from real and fake nerves.

“You’re a twitchy little guy, aren’t you? What the fuck you hiding?”

“I caught one,” Alex said, blurting the words out. “I saw him making things float.”

Wolfgang raised an eyebrow. “Then how’d you get him? You don’t got any of Erick’s tech on you.”

Alex gave a nervous smile. “It’s stupid. I wasn’t thinking. He was in this alley, and he didn’t see me, so I just got him in the head with a brick.”

“You have a serious death wish. You go to one of those shows and think you’re just gonna hit it with a brick?” Wolfgang leaned back in his chair. “And I thought Erick was a fucking psycho, but kid, you take the god damn cake.” He got to his feet and headed for the closet across the room. “Well, let’s go pick up your prize.”

“Wait,” Alex said, jumping to his feet and following him. “I’m not taking you to him for free. I want a cut. Erick’s getting rich off this shit.”

“You’re a crazy motherfucker aren’t you, coming in here and making demands.” Wolfgang opened the closet revealing a rack of guns, cattle prods, and small rods that Alex couldn’t identify as any specific weapon. “I’ll give you ten percent.”

Alex grabbed one of the cattle prods. “Twenty.”

“Twelve, and don’t try to bargain.”

Wolfgang grabbed one of the guns, a small hand gun, and a small rod to shove in his pocket.

“Works for me,” Alex said. “What’s that? That small thing there.”

“Not entirely sure,” Wolfgang said with a shrug. “All I know is that it emits something that makes the freaks incapable of fighting back too hard.”

“Right. Okay.”

Alex swallowed and then headed for the front door as Wolfgang stashed his weapons out of sight. Heading out into the alley, he tried to stay calm. He couldn’t quiet his brain, thoughts racing fast with something that felt like panic and he couldn’t figure out why, not when he had been through so much worse. He led the way down the alley, pulling the cattle prod out as they neared Warpath’s limp form on the ground.

“You sure he’s out?” Wolfgang asked.

“I wouldn’t have gotten you if he wasn’t,” Alex hissed over his shoulder.

“You’re dumb enough to knock on my door and yell my name, so forgive me if I don’t trust your intelligence,” Wolfgang said. When they got closer and Alex turned Warpath onto his back with his foot, Wolfgang cursed. “What the fuck, man.”            “What?” Alex asked, grip tightening on the cattle prod as he looked at Wolfgang.

“This guy isn’t worth the risk. We’re putting him down,” Wolfgang said, a slight tremor in his voice as he cocked his gun.

Warpath twisted up off the ground in one fluid motion, pin-wheeling on his heel and driving his foot into Wolfgang’s face before grabbing his neck and slamming his head into the wall. He dropped to the ground like a rock, his large form entirely limp. Alex swallowed and then knelt to pick the small mutant-paralyzing device out of the man’s pocket, just to be on the safe side.

“Would’ve been better if we ambushed him in his house. There was no one else there,” Alex said as Warpath picked Wolfgang up off the ground.

“We could not have known that.”

Warpath began to head for the house and after a moment of hesitation, Alex trailed after him.

“He recognized you,” Alex said. “How do you know him?”

“I don’t,” Warpath said. “Then again, everyone here looks the same to me. Human. Weak.”

“You’re closer to human than any of us,” Alex said. 

“Not in my morals.”

Alex bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying anything else, at least when they were still in relatively hot water. The first thing they did when they arrived back at Wolfgang’s apartment was blockade the main door with the bookshelf because there was no telling who had seen what they’d done.

“I’m starting to not like this plan,” Alex said. “Mystique knows more about this whole operation, so I don’t even know the right questions to ask.”

“His contacts. His smuggling routes. It’s quite simple.” Warpath narrowed his eyes as he set Wolfgang down in one of the kitchen chairs. “What is really making you hesitate?”

Alex looked back at Wolfgang’s unconscious body. “When I decided to come back to this life, it was to help other mutants, but torturing someone for answers was not how I wanted to do that.”

“Then why did you agree to help with this? You had to have known what it would require.”

“Yeah well I didn’t think it through then,” Alex said. “Look…I’ll just keep a look out outside or something.”

“I’m going to kill him after. I’ll have to if getting him to talk requires torture.”

“I get that,” Alex said. “I’ll be outside.”

It felt wrong, like he was weak for back out at the last second. The thought of what he would have to do to get the answers they wanted made his stomach turn though. He slid down the building wall to sit on the pavement. He’d felt good going back to Charles and trying to help mutants, even though he’d known that it would be hard, that there would be fighting and violence and that he’d likely have to kill again. In Vietnam, he _had_ tortured people. He didn’t want to go back to that. He didn’t want to end up numb and distant from himself just to survive.

At the same time though, the idea that instead of handling it, he’d pushed the duty off to Warpath didn’t sit right with him. Before he could consider those thoughts more, the back door opened. Alex scrambled to his feet and ignored the judgmental look Warpath gave him.

“Hard to keep watch when you’re sitting on your ass, is it not?” Warpath asked. He didn’t wait for Alex’s response. “The man is terrified. He’ll give us all the answers we want.” Warpath smirked. “Most men with big guns have no real courage to speak of anyways.”

“Oh.” Alex’s cheeks flushed red but Warpath was already turning away, leaving him alone with his embarrassment.

When they reached the kitchen, Wolfgang looked a little worse for wear, thick rope tying him to the chair though from how pale he was and the way he trembled, Alex wasn’t sure he’d try to run if they gave him the chance. He flinched when Warpath re-entered his line of sight.

“Easy,” Alex said, putting himself between them.

“You could have asked you know! You didn’t have to sick that fucking…monster on me!” Wolfgang’s voice had a shrill quality to it.

Alex frowned but when he looked back at Warpath, the other mutant just shrugged. “He’s not exactly the strongest mutant around. What’s got you all fucked up about him?”

“Not as strong as he…” Wolfgang shook his head. “You might not be who you say you are, but you’re still dumb as shit.”

“Speaking of who you thought I was,” Alex said. “Who the hell is Erick?”

“You don’t even know? Wolfgang shook his head. “You’re a good actor.”

“Start. Talking,” Warpath said.

Wolfgang swallowed thickly and kept his gaze on Alex. “He’s a member of the government, part of the mutant taskforce meant to keep mutants out. He’s been selling them to us instead, when he manages to catch them.”

“I want a number,” Alex said, moving over to the kitchen counter and rooting through the doors for paper and a pen. “I want a number and an address.”

“Will you kill me after I do?” Wolfgang asked.

“No,” Alex said, looking over at Warpath. “But we’ll know if you warn him we’re coming, and we’ll find you.”

“Fair enough. I can always find a new source. Corrupt government workers are more commonplace than they make you believe,” Wolfgang said, eyes fixed on Warpath instead of Alex. “I’ll give you his information.”

 

-.-

 

“So…”

Peter waited but Mystique didn’t even acknowledge that he had spoken as they walked. She was blonde now, her hair coming down in waves with big hoop earrings and a billowy, blue blouse with dark jeans. Somehow, it was harder to relate to her like this.

“You going to finish that sentence?” Mystique asks.

“Oh uh, just…who exactly are we going after? You never really said.”

“There’s a guy who owns the buildings they use to house mutants. As far as I can tell it’s only one guy but we have to rule out any other business partners.”

“And what are we going to do when we find him?” Peter asked.

“Kidnap him, after I get the information I want,” Mystique said. “Then I can impersonate him to get more information.”

“So can you speak the language of whoever you impersonate?” Peter asked.

Mystique finally looked at him, but he almost wished she hadn’t because she was looking at him like he was an idiot. “No. It’s my physical form, not my mind. Language comes from the brain.”

“Oh. So how are you going to impersonate him?”

“I speak German,” she said, turning her attention back to the street.

“Did my…did Erik teach you that?”

“Yes actually,” Mystique said. “And Alex told me he’s your dad, you don’t have to hide that from me.”

Peter shoved his hands in his pockets. “What…was he like? Before all of this?”

“If you’re asking if he was ever a good guy, the answer is no,” Mystique said. “I thought when we first met that he was because he was the first person to tell me it was okay to be who I really am.”

"But don’t you kind of…agree with him?” Peter kind of wanted to shut himself up because he knew he couldn’t really trust her and pissing her off probably wouldn’t help.

“To some extent. The thing about Erik is he thinks he’s above everyone else, and he wants revenge on the whole world,” Mystique said.

"Don’t you want that too?” Peter asked.

She looked back at him. “No, I want to liberate mutants, and if a few humans die in the process that’s not my problem, which is different from what he tries to do. Erik is fighting to try and find peace through genocide. I just want mutants to be left alone.”

Peter bit back his instinct to say the first thing that came to mind, forcing himself to mull over what had been said. He supposed there was a difference. After all, Erik had tried to start an all out war. Mystique just wanted to stop the people hurting all of them.

“But if you’re careless about letting humans die, aren’t you setting yourself up to become Erik?” Peter finally asked.

“If you think Erik is such a horrible person, why do you want to find him so damn bad?” she asked, frustration bleeding into her tone.

“Because he thinks he has nothing.”

Mystique whirled, shoving him against the alleyway wall. “You cannot change that man.”

Peter pushed her back. “I’m not trying to-“

"Yes you are. You think if he finds out he has a family, that someone cares, maybe he’ll stop this stupid mission of his to make the world hurt as much as he does, but he won’t.” Her jaw clenched and Peter had to fight down the strange urge to reach out to her. “You can’t love the hatred out of him.”

“Because you’ve already tried?” Peter asked, not bothering to hold back the biting tone.

“Yes, I did,” she said as she met his gaze unflinchingly. “And just because you’re his son doesn’t mean you’ll have better luck. I’m trying to save you the heartbreak.”

"You know, arguing in the middle of an alleyway doesn’t help you keep a low profile.”

Peter whipped around, grabbing Mystique instinctively in case they had to run. She shrugged him off and stepped in front of him.

“Erik,” she said.

He looked different from the man Peter had seen on the TV. His clothes were non-descript and his face was nearly unrecognizable with a full and untrimmed beard. He readjusted the bag on his shoulder and stepped towards them, at least until Mystique pulled a plastic gun out of her jacket and levelled it at him. For a moment, no one said anything. Then, Erik straightened and tilted his head.

“You’re not wearing any metal,” he said.

"Because I know better, and the only reason I’m not shooting you is because of Alex and him,” she said, jerking her chin towards Peter.

“Maybe we should put the weapons away and talk,” Peter said. “Just a suggestion.”

“I’m not here to kill you Mystique. To be honest, I was hoping to never see you again,” Erik said. He didn’t even look at Peter. “I just happened to overhear the two of you arguing and recognized your voice. No ulterior motive here.”

“Then why are you here?” Peter asked. He wanted Erik to look at him, just once. “Why are you in Berlin if it wasn’t to come after Mystique? She’s been here for months.”

“Believe it or not, I’m just passing through,” Erik said. “I’m more curious as to why the kleptomaniac from the States who broke me out of prison is in Germany with a woman that to my most recent knowledge, he has never met.”

“How much of our conversation did you hear?” Peter asked, heart pounding. His fingers felt clammy and cold.

“None of it,” Erik said. “You were loud, not intelligible.”

Peter glanced at Mystique, who just raised her eyebrows in response. He took a deep breath and looked back at Erik.

“Because I have something to tell you and I’m not going to until after I finish my business with Mystique, so you might as well just come with us and play nice, yeah? We’re helping mutants, which is what you would’ve wanted,” Peter said in a rush.

Erik tilted his head to the side and glanced between them. “Honestly…it isn’t what I want anymore. I just want to be left alone. But I’ll be honest, you’ve caught my interest. I’ll help, if Mystique can stand my presence.”

For a moment, Peter was confident Mystique was going to say no, or maybe even kill him. If he’d learned anything from Alex, it was that she was unpredictable. She narrowed her eyes and then nodded before lowering her hand and tucking the pistol back into her jacket pocket.

“Fine, you can come with us. But you listen to me.”

“Understood,” Erik said. He glanced at Peter but didn’t say anything further.

He tried not to be too disappointed by that.

 

-.-

 

Ink kept his head down as he walked, his steps slow and measured. He lacked any knowledge of the German language, so reading the minds of the people he passed was mostly useless except for the occasional phrases of English that passed through their thoughts. Still, intent behind action was all he really needed, and feelings didn’t need words. The address Mystique gave him wasn’t very helpful, but reading people’s minds for directions was simple enough.

He glanced up at the street signs, frowning as he tried to read where they connected in the minds of the strangers around him. Before long he was on his way again, keeping his steps slow even as he noticed more and more people turning to look at him with increasing tension and suspicion in their minds. That alone was enough to signal he was on the right track. It reminded him of before, of stalking the people he’d been tasked with punishing. Those thoughts led him down a dangerous path though, so he buried them deep and forced himself to focus.

He stopped at the next intersection, eyes glancing up along the wall of the building he was next to. The number matched what Mystique had given him, but there wasn’t a door and none of the dirty windows had any light coming from them. He back tracked to the nearest alley and headed down it, or at least he tried to. A hand caught his, tugging him back. He whirled around, but stopped himself from lashing out when he saw it was a just a girl.

“Don’t,” the girl said. “People like you don’t come back.”

Ink cast a quick look over his shoulder and then grabbed the girl’s hand, tugging her across the street and up to the intersection. “What do you know?”

“Mutants,” she said, her blue eyes fading to purple and then back again. She raised an eyebrow. “You all come seeking revenge and you never come back out.”

“How many?”

"Five, since I started keeping track. I warn them every time but they’re too stupid.”

Ink couldn’t help a small laugh as he crouched down to her level. “And what do you do?”

“None of your business.”

“And how did you know what I was?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve always been able to tell. I just know.”

“Right…well, look. I’m going to come back out,” Ink said. “And then I’m taking you with me. I’ve got friends.”

"I have a family you know,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “You can’t just kidnap me.”

"No you don’t,” Ink said. He tapped his temple. “Telepath. And if you hang around here long enough they’ll catch you too. When I come back out, you should come with me. I can’t make you but…you’re too smart to waste away here.”

“Fine. If you get out,” she said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Ink smiled and straightened. He glanced back towards the alley and when he turned back to the girl, she was gone. He jogged back across the street and headed back down the alleyway, stopping in front of the door that led into the abandoned building to steady his breathing and center himself. With a rough sigh, he leaned his head against the door and ran his mind through each tattoo, what he could do, what he would have to do. When he opened his eyes, he felt like his old self, the self he’d spent years running away from.

His explosion tattoo flashed as his powers activated and he hit the metal door, knocking it off its hinges with tiny explosions and sending it crashing down the staircase. It was enough to startle whoever was gathered, curses in German and English filling the space as he headed down the stairs, steps quiet so as not to draw attention away from the door while he surveyed the situation. His mind traced over their minds, tagging almost all of them as just human, but just humans with machine guns. He took a deep breath and all at once, the talking ceased as he froze their minds. He clung tight to them and then let them all drop into unconsciousness before releasing them.

He continued down the stairs, stepping over the mangled door and weaving through the collapsed bodies towards the counter made out of barrels and sheet metal towards the back. A bald man stood there, a nervous smile on his lips as he twiddled his thumbs.

"Why can’t I detect you?” Ink asked, shoving a chair out of his way hard enough to make it slam against the wall.

The man flinched, smile growing wider. “I’ve always been immune to telepathy. It makes me a good business partner.”

“Yeah, and why’s that?” Ink asked, stopping in front of the counter.

“Because well…see my boss, he’s not immune to telepathy and when you have a telepath on your payroll it helps to have someone act as a liaison,” the man said.

“Right, right,” Ink said. “This is where people bring you mutants, isn’t it?”

“Yes, actually, but anyone who bothers to look knows that so you’re not very bright coming here,” he said. “If you’d dug a little further, maybe you’d know that.”

“I know that every mutant who’s come here to try and get revenge has ended up in a cage,” Ink said. “But I also know I’m stronger than all of them, and honestly I’m surprised your guards managed to stand up to so many mutants before me, but that doesn’t really matter right now. You’re coming with me, and you’re going to tell me everything I want to know.”

“No, I don’t think I will actually.”

“And why is that?” Ink asked.

The man’s eyes flicked behind him and Ink cast his mind out behind him, coming up against a hard wall of mental strength. He spun around and came face to face with Psylocke. Her hand was outstretched, glowing with purple light before but he was prepared this time, digging in to the Phoenix’s power to rail back against her. She dropped her hand and the sudden lack of resistance caught Ink by surprise.

Ink cried out when a blade stabbed into his back, sinking in deep and sending him forward. He flung out one hand to the chair he had tossed earlier and sent it flying towards Psylocke before turning around and punching the man from earlier in the face with his weaker arm. It was enough to catch him off guard and make him duck behind the table. Ink clenched his jaw as he forced the knife out of his back before picking it up off the ground and turning his attention back to Psylocke.

Her whole body glowed with a deep purple light and her right arm had turned into a sharpened glowing blade of energy. He looked up at her and his shock must have shown because she smiled.

“Perhaps we are even in telepathic strength, but I think we know who would win in a physical contest,” she said.

“We’re not even telepathically,” he said, getting to his feet. “But I don’t want to kill you. You’re a mutant, plus my boyfriend isn’t a huge fan of people getting killed even when they deserve it.”

She lowered her arm. “What? Then why are you here?”

“I want to know why you’re helping that piece of shit over there,” Ink said, gesturing behind him. “Earlier, when you first caught us…your mind wasn’t malicious. You were desperate.”

The man behind him burst into laughter. Ink reached back with his right hand, the biohazard tattoo lighting up as he dug his powers into the man’s stomach and filled it with toxin and bile. The only sound that came out of him afterwards was a desperate, coughing retch. Psylocke let the energy on her arm fade.

“You’re not the first mutant to promise you could help me,” she said. “So give me one reason to trust you and risk everything for you.”

“Because whatever that man has on you, me and my friends can stop. As we speak, they’re gathering information and taking out important sources,” he said. “So you can come with me and let me help you and take away your employer’s biggest advantage, or you can keep letting this spineless piece of shit lord himself over you because he’s fucking immune.”

“He’ll snitch,” she said. “And if we kill him or kidnap, then my employer will suspect foul play.”

“Tell me what he has on you,” Ink said.

“I’m only telling you because you’re the first mutant to come close to defeating me telepathically,” Psylocke said. “Which means you are my only chance out of this because I have been doing this for years.”

“Wait-“ the man started.

Ink whirled around, Phoenix tattoo flaring as he hurled the whole counter against the opposite wall and stepped up to the man, hauling him off the ground and slamming him against the wall with his stronger arm. “When I want you to talk, you can talk. But right now, all I want out of you is silence. One more word, and your stomach ends up on the ground.”

The man nodded and Ink released him before turning back to Psylocke.

She glanced at the ceiling and then sighed. “He has my family, well, my brother. He’s my only family.”

“Do you know where?” Ink asked.

"No,” she said, shaking her head. “He doesn’t even know, so I can’t read his mind to find out.”

“I know someone who could find him,” Ink said. “If we took the rat, how long before your boss realizes something is wrong and kills your brother?”

"Ten hours, if we’re lucky,” she said.

"That’s enough,” Ink said. “Now get some duct tape to cover his mouth.”

 

-.-

 

“Fuck!”

Alex jumped to his feet as Lorna stormed into the hotel room. Warpath didn’t stir from his spot on the bed.

"What?” he asked as Lorna slammed the door shut behind her.

“No one fucking trusts me in this god damn city anymore,” she said, kicking one of the chairs at the table out enough to throw herself into it. “Every single one of my connections that I tried to talk to said they couldn’t trust me because they think I’ve turned into a traitor.”

"Why?” Alex asked.

“Because I got out alive, so clearly someone let me go so that I can get more mutants,” she spat out.

“Well, that’s not entirely surprising is it?” Alex asked. “I mean, the main person trafficking powerful mutants is a mutant herself. Why wouldn’t they assume something similar happened to you?”

“That’s not the point!” she shook her head.

“It’s her home,” Warpath said. When they looked over at him, he was still on his back with eyes closed. “Being rejected by the people you consider family is difficult, even if it makes logical sense.”

“Right. I should’ve…thought,” Alex said. “Sorry.”

“Whatever,” she said. “So did you guys have any luck at least?”

“We have a government official who traffics mutants,” Alex said. “He’s part of the mutant taskforce to round up mutants and get rid of them, except he’s been giving them to smugglers to sell off to whoever runs this whole thing.”

“That’s the bastard who probably got me then,” she said.

“Do you remember much from when you got taken?” Alex asked.

She shook her head. “Not really. They got a lot of us all at once though, so I imagine it would’ve been the government task force that got us, not Psylocke.”

“Did any of your…”

“I killed them. Everyone I was captured with is dead,” she said. “God, you ask a lot of questions.”

“He’s nosy,” Warpath said.

Alex flushed but when Lorna laughed, it didn’t sound mean.

 _Alex. I need you to warn everyone,_ Ink’s voice said in his mind.

_Wait, of what?_

_I have Psylocke with me. She came willingly. She wants to help._

“Uh…Lorna?” Alex asked.

“Hm?” she asked, not looking up as she dug dirt out of her nails.

“Ink is bringing Psylocke with him.”

“What?”

"Apparently he managed to convince her to switch sides-“

“That fucking bitch-“ Lorna got to her feet and headed for the door.

“Lorna!”

She yanked the door open, and apparently Ink hadn’t given them much of a warning because Lorna was able to grab Psylocke by the front of her shirt and haul her into the room. Psylocke didn’t resist when Lorna tossed her on the ground, nor when Lorna straddled her and punched her in the face. Alex got to his feet and hauled Lorna back as Ink shut the door, cursing when she kicked his shin.

“Calm down,” Alex said.

“Calm down? It’s her fault I had to fucking murder my friends!”

“Jesus, I know, we know,” Alex said, keeping a tight grip on her as she continued to struggle.

Ink helped Psylocke to her feet and then put himself between the rest of them and her. Warpath was on his feet, but Alex couldn’t tell anything from his expression.

“Lorna, come on,” Alex said, walking them back and forcing her to sit on the edge of the bed. “I get it, okay, but we can’t fucking murder someone in our hotel room and attract any more attention than we already have.”

She shoved him back but stayed where she was. He managed to catch the flash of tears on her cheeks before she bowed her head, shoulders rolling as she hunched forward and pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes. Alex glanced at Warpath again but he had already sat down again.

“Okay, so do you want to explain a little bit?” Alex asked.

Psylocke’s cheek was already bruising. “My employer has my brother. That’s why I’ve been helping him. Ink has promised that you can save my brother so I…I will help you. I don’t have a choice anymore. I either save him or we both die because I can’t keep doing what I’ve done, and you are all my last chance to save him, because I could never do it on my own.”

“Alright, fair,” Alex said. “We’ll accept your help.”

“Also,” Ink said, opening the door and stepping out into the hall. When he came back, there was an unconscious man thrown over his shoulder. “We have to babysit this guy until we get her brother.”

“Who is he?”

“He’s the drop off man for the smugglers,” Psylocke said. “He keeps track of money and…inventory.”

"Fucking inventory,” Lorna said, her voice shaky.

“Sorry…mutants. He keeps track of the mutants,” she said. “And as soon as my employer realizes he’s missing my brother is dead so time is of the essence.”

“Okay, do we know where to find him?” Alex asked.

“No,” Ink said. “But I was thinking maybe Charles…?”

“We can try to get word to him,” Alex said. “But it’s a bit of a long shot.”

“If we can get me to a satellite of some kind, maybe we can rig it up to work like Cerebro, at least enough that I can reach him. I don’t think I have the ability to search the whole city for one person I don’t know, but I bet I can pinpoint Charles,” Ink said.

“Okay, Lorna, do you happen to know of any big satellites in the area?” Alex asked.

Before Lorna could tell them to fuck off, there was a knock on the door. For a moment, everyone froze. Then Warpath hopped off the bed, yanking the sheets back before picking up the unconscious man from the ground and dropping him in the bed on his side, tugging the sheets over him. Ink looked over at them.

“It’s fine, it’s just Mystique and Peter, and some other guy I can’t-“ Ink started.

Alex opened the door, freezing when he saw who was standing behind Mystique and Peter. “What?”

“Alex, you’ve got to trust me. He’s what you came here for anyways,” Mystique said, putting a hand on his chest and forcing him back. “And it’s what Peter wants.”

Alex backed up, letting Mystique, Peter, and Erik into the room. Ink pushed the door shut. Alex walked over to the bed and sat down next to Lorna, hands growing hot and glowing red as he tried to steady his heartbeat. Mystique was right of course. They had come here to find Erik, for Peter to talk to him and maybe help him. But seeing him…

He was starting to realize he and Lorna had a lot in common in the anger department. Lorna grabbed his hand, not flinching from the warmth as she held it.

 “Alex,” Erik said.

"You’re Magneto,” Psylocke said. “We all saw you on TV.”

“Yes, I imagine you did,” Erik said. “I was hoping the beard would make me more unrecognizable.”

“You’re a hero,” Warpath said.

“I shouldn’t be,” Erik said. “But perhaps we should talk about what you have all gathered for in the first place. We can talk about me later.”

“And maybe someone should explain why Psylocke is here and not dead,” Mystique said.           

"The guy running this whole thing has her brother,” Ink said. “We were going to save him and she was going to help us take the whole thing down.”

"Right,” Mystique said. “So where’s your brother?”

“I don’t know. Stashed away somewhere,” she said. “I don’t know all the locations that his organization has.”

"We do,” Mystique says. “Or at least we do now. The man we went after owns all the buildings and I have all his deeds.” She dug into her purse and pulled out a stack of folded papers. “We’ll just have to hit as many of these as possible to find him.”

“We were thinking of contacting Charles instead,” Alex said. “We just need a way to contact him and have him start looking.”

“Well I can help with that,” Erik said.

“How?” Alex asked.

“Charles…thinks I don’t know, but he often checks up on me. I know his presence,” Erik said. “So he can’t hide from me, though perhaps he thinks he can. Next time he does, I can tell him who to look for.”

“And when will that be?” Psylocke asked.

“What time is it?”

Mystique looked at her watch. “Almost 4 A.M.”

“Probably within the hour then,” Erik said. “I usually notice him around five.”

“Maybe he really does love you,” Ink said.

“What?” Erik asked, looking over at him.

“Okay, Charles’ possible love aside,” Mystique said. “We need a plan. This guy owns twenty eight warehouses or buildings. We have to assume most of those warehouses are used for storing mutants or as arenas.”

“And he has to be in touch with this government official named Erick Fischer,” Alex said, finally finding his voice. “He’s part of the mutant taskforce that helps round up mutants and he’s been giving them to smugglers to give to that guy who’s name I still don’t know.”

“His name is Rufus,” Psylocke said. “He’s my employer’s right hand.”

“And your employer is?” Mystique asked.

"Stryker. He’s American, but he finds this business profitable,” Psylocke said. “He came here several years ago and started it and he still visits sometimes but mostly he stays in America and has Rufus and Erick run everything.”

“We know Stryker,” Alex said.

"He worked for Trask,” Mystique said. “Private security. I should have killed him instead of going after Trask.”

“If you’d killed anyone that day-“ Erik started.

“I didn’t ask for your commentary,” Mystique said without looking at him. “Look, we know the players. Our first priority is to get Psylocke’s brother. After that, we take out the whole operation.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Erik asked. “You can’t kill everyone in the world, there will always be more bad people ready to take advantage of the mutants here.”

“Of course there will, but we can make it harder,” Mystique said. “I’ve managed to take out two total arenas. After I free the mutants, yes they’re back up and running right away, but less people show up because they think it’s dangerous and it’s not worth the money to risk a whole bunch of mutants tearing you apart. If we can hit all of their bases back to back on the same night…no one will show, at least not enough to turn a profit.”

“It’s psychological warfare more than anything else,” Lorna said. “That’s your plan.”

“It has to be,” Mystique said. “I’ve been fighting this for a long time on my own. It was all I could do.”

“Well, now perhaps there’s a chance of making your plan work on a massive scale. And if we do…”

"Then I go after Stryker,” Mystique said. “He’s not well known like Trask. Killing him isn’t going to turn the world on its head like killing Trask would’ve done.”

“What you do after this is your choice,” Alex said. “We aren’t going to help you with killing him.”

“I know,” she said. “So let’s at least save as many mutants as we can before we part ways, okay? And that means working together even if we don’t like each other. We have all been hurt by this, not just you two, Lorna, Warpath. Not just you, Psylocke. All of us have been affected by this operation and this is the only chance have at stopping it without an all-out war.”

“Then we should get some rest,” Ink said. “We’re no use to Psylocke’s brother or the other mutants if we’re too tired to fight properly. It’s been a long night.”

"What about my brother?” Psylocke asked.

“As soon as Charles locates him, a small group of us will go after him,” Ink said. “I think that makes the most sense at least. It can be myself, Lorna, and you. We have the broadest range of abilities and no offense Alex, but you don’t exactly have the sneakiest power for a quick in and out mission.”

“I’m aware,” Alex said. “So if that’s the plan…”

“It is,” Mystique said. “I’ll go buy us another hotel room. It’s getting too cramped in here for my tastes.”

“Oh, by the way,” Ink said. “You might want to make that three. I sort of…adopted a mutant child on my way back.”

Mystique glanced between Ink and Alex before sighing. “Whatever.”


End file.
